COONOOR: Nearly 25,000 shops in the Nilgiris district remained closed from 6 am to 6 pm on Friday as a mark of respect to the 13 lives lost in Wednesday’s helicopter crash, said Secretary of Federation of Merchants’ Associations M A Raheem.
In Coonoor, the Federation’s President R Parameswaran led the public and merchants in paying floral and candlelight homage at a specially created pavilion at VP Street. People stood in queues and paid homage in many places across the district