Nine women died while three others were critically injured after a jeep carrying 12 people fell into a 30-metre-deep gorge near Mananthavady in Kerala's Wayanad district on Friday. The passengers on the jeep were women labourers who were returning back to their homes after working in a tea estate, news agency IANS reported. The incident happened at around 3.30 p.m. and rescue operations began promptly amid challenges posed by rocky terrain.
State Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran informed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed him to visit the Mananthavady hospital where the injured women are being given treatment. The bodies of the deceased women are also in the same hospital, as per an IANS report.
Meanwhile, a video of the incident surfaced on social media.
The jeep was returning to Makkimala with women working in a private tea estate, news agency PTI reported a local resident as informing.
According to a report by Online Manorama, the jeep's registration number is KL 12 B 5665 and it belongs to Deepu Tea Trading Company. The vehicle hit a culvert on the hairpin at Kannamala and fell into the gorge. The driver has been identified as Mani, the report mentioned.
As per the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), Pinarayi Vijayan asked Forest Minister A K Saseendran, who was in Kozhikode, to rush to the accident site. He ordered to coordinate all measures including the treatment of the injured and also asked to take care of other necessary things, a CMO statement informed, as per PTI.
More details about the incident are awaited.
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