Two tourists and a Qualis taxi driver died in collision with government bus near Aruvankadu, here on Staturday.
Speaking to The Hindu, the Collector in-charge, the Nilgiris, S. Kuppusamy said that Sainik Bose, a medical representative from Kolkata and his family members Sushmitha Bose, Lizy Bose, Sandhya Das, Manju Das and Somnath Datra reached Mettupalayam by train this morning.
They accepted the offer of a Toyota Qualis taxi owner-cum-driver Ilango to take them to Udhagamandalam for Rs.100 per person.
Four tourists from Pathanamthitta in Kerala Shibu, Ramesh, Praveen and Aneez also travelled in the same vehicle.
While negotiating a bend near Aruvankadu, a Coimbatore-bound bus of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation collided with the car. In the impact, Manju Das (53), Somnath Datra (38) and Ilango (24) died on the spot. All the other occupants of the taxi and three bus passengers Parvathy, Seethai and Chinnammal of Ithalar, were injured.
They were taken to the Government Hospital in Coonoor and those with multiple injuries were shifted to Coimbatore.
The bus driver R. Sunderaraj (28) was taken for questioning by the police. On account of the accident, traffic was disrupted on the highway for over an hour.
Quoting eye witnesses, the Regional Transport Officer D. Venkataraman said after inspecting the scene that carelessness on the part of the drivers had led to the accident.
He lamented that despite warning signs being displayed prominently many motorists threw caution to the wind while driving in the ghat section.
