MOOLAMATTOM: Mini bus carrying Sabarimala pilgrims returning from Makaravilak darshan overturned into a gorge, injuring 22 people. The accident happened near Kannickal Puthedu CSI church on the Kanjar - Vagamon road today at 9.30 am. 22 people including three children were in the vehicle. A minibus carrying residents of Bengaluru met with the accident.
The injured are S Prashanth (35), T Gopal Krishna (56), Sunil Kumar (42), Mahesh Shetty (60), Tejaswani (8), Rama Gowda (50), Srinivas Ravi (8), Nagaraj (52), Chinmayi (14) , Mani Raju (34), MP Mallesh (46), Abhishek (23), Rama S (47), Raghavendra (27), Prakesh (55) , Erna Dileep (20), Mahender (43) Balachandran (37) and Karthik (21) were admitted to a private hospital in Moolamattom and Vishwanath (65), Chennappa (48) and driver Naveen (35) were admitted to a private hospital in Thodupuzha.
The accident happened to the pilgrims who were coming through Mundakayam Vagaman after visiting Sabarimala. When the vehicle coming from Vagamon reached the Kannickal descent, it lost control and fell down 80 feet. The vehicle was stuck in a tree. If the mini bus had not stopped at the tree, it would have fallen to a great depth. The locals were the first to rush to the rescue operation. Moolamattam and Thodupuzha fire rescue teams also reached the spot soon followed by Kanjar police. The injured were brought to the road with great difficulty. They were transferred to the hospital in vehicles including an ambulance.