Ladakh holiday costs life of Vizag couple

• Vehicle plunges into valley, killing IAS officer, his wife & another couple

Visakhapatnam: Pleasure trips seem to be turning deadly for some couples in Vizag. Coming close on the heels of the Kerala backwaters mishap which claimed a honeymoon couple's lives on Tuesday, another Vizag couple was killed in an accident that occurred in Nebra Valley of Ladakh district in Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday. The vehicle in which they were travelling plunged into a valley 300 feet down, killing an IAS officer and his wife, according to reports reaching here.

Titla Dharma Rao, a 1989 batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, and his wife Titla Vidya Rao, died on the spot. Fortunately, their two children were travelling in another vehicle. Dharma Rao's friends Shivdhar Singh and his wife Khumed Singh who were travelling along with Raos in the same vehicle also died in the mishap. Rao was working in Bhopal as the Industries Secretary for Madhya Pradesh Government.

It is learnt that a batch of IAS and IPS friends from Bhopal went on a holiday to Jammu and Kashmir when the tragedy struck the holidayers. In all, there were three vehicles carrying the tourists. Rao's home in Ambedkar Nagar Colony in Vizag was plunged into sadness. District Collector V Seshadri went to Rao's house and consoled the kith and kin. The bodies are expected to arrive in Vizag on Friday.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the couple killed in Kerala are also expected to arrive on Friday as there was a delay in completing the formalities, it is learnt.