Mettupalayam MLA A.K. Selvaraj visiting victims of the mini bus accident at the Government Hospital, Mettupalayam, on Friday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A seven-year-old boy died and 31 others including the driver of a mini-bus were injured when the vehicle slipped down a slope along the ghat section of Kotagiri-Mettupalayam Road on Friday night.
While seven of the injured were referred to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, the rest were treated for injuries at the Mettupalayam Government Hospital.
The accident, police sources said, occurred around 7 p.m. at a location close to Bhavanisagar Dam viewpoint on the ghat section.
The passengers, comprising 16 adults and 15 children, who were on a sight-seeing trip to Ooty from Perambur in Chennai had reached Mettupalayam on May 1.
They had hired the bus from Mettupalayam and were proceeding to board the Nilgiris Express at Mettupalayam railway station on their return trip when the accident took place.
Health Department officials rushed to Mettupalayam GH to oversee treatment of the injured. Mettupalayam MLA A.K. Selvaraj called on the injured at the GH.
The condition of the seven injured admitted to CMCH was stable, Dean A. Nirmala said.
The Mettupalayam police are investigating.
