A 52-year-old teacher from Nagpur died after falling nearly 150 feet into a gorge at Priyadarshini View Point in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, while trying to retrieve a bag reportedly snatched by a monkey during a school trip on Friday.
The deceased, identified as Vijay Nayak, was visiting the hill station in Narmadapuram district with a group of 20 schoolchildren, several teachers and his father. According to an accompanying teacher, the group reached the viewpoint at around 6.45 am when a monkey took a bag.
Nayak crossed the safety railing to retrieve it, lost his balance and fell into the gorge, the report said. The incident occurred at a public viewpoint where the railing marked the edge of the visitor area, but the teacher went beyond it while attempting to recover the bag.
Police and local residents began a rescue operation soon after the fall. The rescue team had to trek nearly 3 km through difficult terrain to reach the location, indicating the challenges involved in accessing the gorge from the viewpoint.
After about three and a half hours, the team brought Nayak’s body up on a stretcher at around 9.30 am. The body was sent to a government hospital for a postmortem examination, a standard procedure in a fatal accident, before being handed over to the family.
The family subsequently left for Nagpur, according to the report. The incident took place while the group was on a school trip, bringing into focus the safety risks that can arise at viewpoints and other tourist locations where visitors may approach railings, cliffs or difficult terrain.
The rescue operation also involved local residents and required a long trek across challenging ground. At such sites, the distance between a viewing area and the accident location can affect how quickly emergency teams can reach an injured or stranded visitor and bring the person back to safety.
The reported sequence highlights the importance of visitor behaviour around safety barriers, particularly when animals seize personal belongings near tourist facilities. It also demonstrates how a seemingly minor attempt to recover a bag can become fatal when it takes place close to a steep gorge.
The body was handed over to the family after the postmortem, and the family departed for Nagpur. No further official action or changes to visitor arrangements at Priyadarshini View Point were reported in the supplied account.
