Two crew members of a truck had a miraculous escape when their vehicle slipped into a nearly 100-feet deep gorge on the Thekkil ghat section of the National Highway 66 near Chattanchal, some 10 km from here on Tuesday.
The mishap occurred around 7.30 a.m. as the driver of the Mumbai-bound truck, carrying tea dust boxes from Kochi lost control of the vehicle and fell into the gorge, the traffic police said.
Prakash and Madhukar Namdev, the crew of the truck, hailing from Karad taluk of Maharashtra’s Satara district, were lucky enough to escape with minor injuries as small and big plants reduced the impact of the mishap as the truck fell into the gorge, they said.
The injured persons did not find it necessary even to visit a nearby hospital to seek first aid treatment, they added.
Incidentally, a similar mishap had occurred on the same spot killing 10 people and injuring several others when a private bus plying on the Thalassery-Kasaragod route veered off the road while negotiating a sharp curve over a decade ago, the police said.