5 killed as van rolls down hillock

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGERCOIL, NOV. 19. Five persons, including a one and a-half-year-old infant were killed and 14 injured when a van skidded off a hillock in the Keeriparai area of the Western Ghats in Kanyakumari district today.

The passengers, all labourers, were proceeding to an estate in Keeriparai from Vilathikulam in Tuticorin district. The onset of monsoon had made the hillock arduous to climb. The vehicle skidded off when the driver changed the gears and after rolling backwards for some distance, the vehicle gyrated nearly five times and fell into a gorge after hitting a boulder. According to eye witnesses, some of the workers were thrown out of the van. As the vehicle was skidding, two persons who managed to jump out, made a vain bid to halt the descending trucker by pushing large stones under the rear tyres.

Some estate workers recovered the bodies and assisted the authorities in sending them to the Government hospital here for post-mortem. The injured were also admitted to the hospital. The District Superintendent of Police, Mr. K. Vanniyaperumal, held an enquest.

The Kanyakumari Superintendent of Police, Mr. K. Vanniyaperumal, said the persons who had been crushed to death in the Keeriparai mishap had been identified as Vellaiammal (70), Ganesh (one-and-a-half years), Pappa (35), Beevi (75) and Vellammal (60) - all hailing from Kannimarkootam in Vilathikulam. He told The Hindu that the ravine into which the trucker fell was several hundred feet in depth and the police could not retrieve the mangled remains of the vehicle.

The driver of the trucker, who like the labourers was traversing the mountainous area for the first time, was among the 14 injured.

Two labourers who displayed their presence of mind jumped to safety even as the vehicle was rolling down. The labourers were reportedly hired to work at a private estate in Keeriparai.

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Section  : National
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