By IANS
New Delhi : A Zee TV reporter was killed and two others were injured in a mudslide in Himachal Pradesh while driving to film a rare meteor shower, it was announced Sunday.
The victim has been identified as Shobhana Singh, 27, a senior correspondent. Her body has been recovered and attempts are being made to fly it out to Hindon air base on Delhi’s outskirts, Indian Army spokesman Col. S.K. Sakhuja said.
The cameraman and driver who were injured would also be flown out on the same aircraft, he added.
The accident occurred Saturday evening when a two-vehicle Zee convoy, including an outside broadcast (OB) van, was on its way to Chandratal in the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh to film a rare meteor shower that is visible from the spot.
At Chhatru, some 40 km from Chandratal, the convoy encountered a landslide. While the OB van managed to get across, the vehicle carrying Shobhana Singh and her two colleagues stalled. The driver then requested the other two to push the vehicle across, Sakhuja said.
As they were doing so, a huge mudslide suddenly rolled down the mountainside. The driver and the cameraman managed to jump to safety but the young woman wasn’t so lucky, and the mudslide carried her and the vehicle down a 30-foot gorge.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony was immediately informed and he directed the army and the air force to launch a rescue operation, the spokesman said.
By then, however, night had fallen and it was raining, making it difficult to mount a rescue operation.
As soon as day broke Sunday morning, Lt. Col. Ahlawat, who commands an army transit camp in the area, led a group of men to the spot and discovered the body between the vehicle and a boulder.
A tribute posted on Zee TV website described Shobhana Singh as a “special”, “different” and “determined” person.
“Shobhana wanted her life to be decorated with accomplishments. She always wanted to be where the action was, always doing what she wanted to do in life.
“That’s why strong opposition from her family and lack of formal training in journalism (she was a MSc in zoology) didn’t deter her from her chosen path. She wanted to be journalist; that was her dream.
“It helped that she was a very gifted creative writer, a poet who loved to pen down ‘ghazals’. In fact, Shobhana had started rendering poems in Kavi Sammelan’s by the time she was just 15!”