THRISSUR/CHALAKUDY: A group of tourists including Malayalis were stranded for five hours on a forest road in Malakkappara after the steering of a KSRTC bus broke down. The bus broke down at a location where wild animals including leopards and wild elephants take strolls.

35 passengers, including women and children, passed the time in fear. It started raining in the meantime adding to the fear. Even the children became destitute due to lack of food.

The bus left from Malakkappara, a tourist center on the Tamil Nadu border, for Chalakudy at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday and broke down at Pathadipalam at 6:00 p.m. It was 11 o'clock when a replacement bus was brought from Chalakudy. It was two o'clock in the morning on Sunday when the replacement bus reached Chalakudy. Passengers alleged that the reason for the bus lying on the road was that the bus had already been reported for steering issues.

It would have resulted in a huge disaster if the bus had lost control at the sharp bends or huge ditches. The women passengers said that they were scared on the bus. The forest rangers and the police reached the spot at 9:30 pm. The forest guards brought tea as the children started crying from hunger.

There was another bus that stopped service at Malakkappara at 7 pm, but it was not delivered and a replacement bus was brought from Chalakudy. This is what caused the delay. The passengers had demanded that the bus at Malakkappara be delivered but the officials refused.

'Cannot forget that terrible night'

"We were in an area that was prone to disturbance by wild animals. Our fear doubled when the passers-by told us that they had seen two wild elephants on the road earlier.

The driver said that the tyre is low on air and the steering is not turning when we reached Pathadipalam. When the bus stopped, the conductor got down and checked. It seemed okay. The journey continued but the bus was stopped again when it became difficult to turn the steering wheel. As there was no range for the mobile phone there, the bus was moved a little further and the Chalakudy depot was contacted. The front of the bus was leaking oil. The leak was at the valve down from the steering. I will never forget spending hours in an area infested with wild animals including leopards and elephants. The defective bus should not have operated on the forest road,"

-Manikanthan, a native of Kodakara, who was in the bus stuck on the forest road