12 injured as van carrying tourists topple on Valparai ghat section

A total of 12 persons sustained injuries after a van carrying tourists from Ramanathapuram district overturned while its driver was negotiating a bend on the ghat section of Pollachi–Valparai Road on Monday evening.

Police said the accident occurred around 5.45 p.m when the tourists, 18 residents from Pamban in Ramanathapuram district and one person from Thoothukudi, were returning from Valparai after a four-day trip to the hill station. The van overturned when driver Sheik Mohamed (28) of Muthukulathur negotiated the first hairpin bend.

Personnel from the Kadambarai police station and Fire and Rescue Services rushed to the spot and carried out rescue operations. The injured persons were safely rescued from the vehicle and shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Pollachi, for treatment.

The police identified the injured as Samini (36), Kemsilin (29), Yegith Rani (58), Susai Viyagulam (62), Santhiya Mary (70), John Meclowin (45), Kevin (51) and four children aged 13, 14 and nine (2), all from Pamban in Ramanthapuram district, and Ashok Kumar (25) of Thoothukudi.

Further investigation is under way.

A total of 10 tourists from Malappuram district in Kerala died in a similar accident involving a van at the ghat section of Pollachi-Valparai Road on April 17 this year. The van carrying 12 passengers and the driver veered off the 13th hairpin bend and rolled down to the ninth bend in the accident.