Leisure trip ends in tragedy as 5 dies in van accident

UDHAGAMANDALAM: A leisure trip ended in tragedy for a group of tourists from Vellore when the van they were travelling in rammed a parapet wall on roadside near Thattapallam on the Kotagiri-Mettupalayam road Friday late night, while they were returning home after visiting

Ooty

, killing five and injuring others.

According to police, there were 32 passengers, including 15 children below 15 years, in the van. One person died on the spot, while another two succumbed to their injuries on the way to the hospital. The remaining two breathed last in the hospital.

Nilgiris SP

Murali Rambha

said the injured were first taken to Kotagiri government hospital and Mettupalayam government hospital.

The group of 32, the police said, had come to Ooty on a leisure trip. While returning home, the van they were travelling in lost control due to brake failure and hit the parapet wall on roadside near Thattapallam on the Kotagiri-Mettupalayam road on Friday late night.

M Shankar, 50, died on the spot, while his brother M Baskar, 42, and his mother

Malliga

, 67, died on the way to hospital. Another two passengers, identified as M Panneerselvam, 43, and P Saroja, 50, died in the hospital, the police said.

The condition of five others, including the driver, was said to be critical. “The injured are being treated at government hospitals in Mettupalayam and Coimbatore,” the police said.

“Brake failure was the cause of the accident. A case has been registered in this regard,” said a police official attached to the Kotagiri police station. “We are yet to get full details about the driver and other passengers,” the official added.

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