KALPETTA: Nine women died and five others suffered serious injuries when a jeep carrying tea plantation workers overturned and plunged into a 30-metre-deep gorge in Mananthavady on Friday.
The jeep was transporting tea pluckers back from the plantation when the accident occurred at a hairpin curve near Kannoth Hill at Thalapuzha around 3:30 PM. The vehicle split into two from the impact of the fall.
The deceased are Rani, Chinnamma, Rabiya, Shaja, Karthyayani, Leela, Savitha, Chithra and Shobana — all hailing from Makkimala near Thalapuzha. The injured, including the jeep driver, were admitted to the Wayanad Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Mananthavady. Except for the driver, all others in the vehicle were women labourers.
Forest Minister A K Saseendran, who visited the injured at the MCH, said one of the injured, Latha, 41, has been shifted to the Kozhikode Government MCH as her condition is critical. The minister said the condition of the other four injured is stable.
According to local residents, the jeep, owned by Deepu Tea Trading Company, lost control and hit a culvert on the hairpin curve at Kannamala, before falling into the gorge filled with rocks. They said it is an accident-prone area due to the sharp curves.
Wayanad district police chief Padam Singh said the driver of the jeep could not apply the brakes, resulting in him losing control of the vehicle.
“The vehicle fell into a 30m-deep gorge and the impact of the fall resulted in the deaths,” he said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the Wayanad district administration to take necessary steps, including the treatment of those injured in the accident. According to residents, the colony where the workers live is hardly 10km away from the plantation site.
‘90 per cent of women in Makkimala colony are tea estate workers'
The women who start their work early morning return home around 2 PM daily. They said almost 90 per cent of the women who live in the Makkimala colony are tea pluckers. A good number of families living here are people who migrated from Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the Wayanad district administration to take necessary steps, including the treatment of those injured in the accident.