IDUKKI: Two persons were killed after a lorry carrying them overturned and fell into a 300 ft gorge in Adimaly, Idukki, on Monday night. The mishap took place when the vehicle, which was on its way to Kothamangalam from Adimaly, rolled down the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway near Valara around 8.15pm on Monday, police said.
The deceased have been identified as Siju Poulose (32) of Varappurathu house, Puthankurishu, Neriyamangalam and Santosh Thankappan (33) of Thanichuvattil house, Neriyamangalam. Upon informed by some local residents, police, forest and fire officials reached the spot and conducted rescue operations.
As the truck had rolled down into the forest area near Valara, the rescue operations were disrupted by risky terrain and darkness. Hence rescue operations continued till Tuesday morning. The fire officials tried to lift up the lorry lying upside down using a crane machine to rescue the injured men, but in vain.
However, the injured persons were taken out of the vehicle after cutting out some parts of the vehicle using a gas cutter. The preliminary investigation revealed the truck driver had lost control over the vehicle, and fell into the gorge.
The funeral of the two men will be held later after the post-mortem.