Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu), Oct 24 (IANS) A government bus driver, Janagaraj, died after his vehicle was trapped in a landslide near Parliyar in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district, minutes after around 50 passengers had been moved out following a tyre puncture.
Rescue personnel confirmed the driver’s death after retrieving his body from beneath the debris following a prolonged operation. Earlier reports had suggested that he had been rescued safely, but rescuers subsequently clarified that he remained trapped inside the vehicle and had died.
The conductor, Kesavan, who was also caught in the landslide, was rescued with injuries by Fire and Rescue Services personnel and taken to hospital. He said there were no passengers aboard when the hillside collapsed. “Only the driver and I were in the bus. Trees began falling across the road one after another. As we tried to stop the bus safely, we were caught in the landslide,” the conductor said, recounting the incident.
The bus was travelling from Coimbatore to Ooty when it suffered a tyre puncture shortly before reaching the affected stretch near Parliyar. Around 50 passengers had been travelling in the vehicle before the breakdown.
According to the account of the incident, the passengers were moved out of the bus following the puncture. Within minutes of their departure, a major landslide struck the hill road, bringing down trees, rocks and earth and trapping the vehicle. The unexpected breakdown thus spared the passengers from being inside the bus when the debris engulfed it.
The driver and conductor, however, remained aboard and were caught in the collapse. Emergency teams launched a rescue operation and managed to bring the injured conductor to safety. Efforts to reach the driver continued amid the accumulated debris, but rescuers eventually recovered his body. The confirmation of his death corrected the earlier reports of a successful rescue and established that the accident had claimed one life.
Meanwhile, teams continued clearing fallen trees, boulders and soil from the affected stretch to restore traffic on the hill road. The clearance work was being undertaken on an urgent basis. The incident left the government bus buried in debris on a route connecting Coimbatore with Ooty.
While the evacuation following the puncture prevented passengers from being caught in the landslide, the two crew members were unable to escape before the material came down onto the road.
–IANS
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