Masinagudi mishap: 2 survivors still critical

Two survivors, P Arun and R Ram Rajesh, who were rescued alive and admitted at Ooty Government Hospital were later brought to Coimbatore for further treatment.

“While the condition of Ramaraj admitted in a private hospital continues to be critical and is unconscious, Arun has been slowly responding to treatment. However, he could not recollect how the mishap happened. Both had suffered multiple fractures and severe clots all over their body,” said doctors.

The duo along with Jude Anto Kevin, 34, Ibrahim, 35, Ravi Varma, 37, Jayakumar, 36 and Amarnath, hailing from different parts of Chennai had fallen into a gorge on the Ooty-Kalhatty Road on October 1, 2018. The wreckage of the car was spotted only on Wednesday evening.

The bodies of the five persons which was retrieved in a semi-decomposed state, were handed over to their relatives, on Thursday. Kevin’s cousin brother Samuel, studying final year engineering at Government College of Technology in Coimbatore, said that his brother, working as a ship captain for the last ten years, used to go on such trips with friends during vacations.

“Though his cell phone remained not reachable, the relatives thought him to be a network problem. We received information that they were missing only on Thursday and rushed to Ooty,” he said.

Cops inquiring into the incident said that the images from the CCTV footage showed the ill-fated car, driven by Kevin crossing the forest check post at Kalhatty Road around 9.16 am. The mishap happened merely ten minutes after they crossed the check post. 

Kevin was said to have no experience in driving on steep hill routes. Meanwhile, the officials of the highways department inspected the accident spot to take measures to prevent accidents.