Nilgiris landslide: bus driver killed as mud and trees bury TNSTC bus near Burliyar

A Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus driver was killed and the conductor injured when a landslide brought mud, rocks and trees down on their bus at Burliyar on the Mettupalayam–Coonoor ghat road in the Nilgiris, after a night of extremely heavy rain. The bus was hit in the early hours of Saturday, October 24, police said.

The driver, Janagaraj, 55, was taking the bus down from Coonoor when the landslide struck, The Hindu reported. There were no passengers on board, only the driver and the conductor, Kesavan, police said.

“Only the driver and I were in the bus. Trees began falling across the road one after another. As we tried to stop the bus safely, we were caught in the landslide,” Kesavan said, news agency IANS reported.

Fire and rescue teams pulled both men out of the debris and slush. “When we reached the Marapalam area, the driver was completely trapped in his seat beneath the heavy debris. We searched the entire bus and initially found no other passengers, which was a huge relief, though tragic for the crew,” a fire officer said. Janagaraj died of his injuries at Mettupalayam Government Hospital, where Kesavan is being treated; Backward Classes Welfare Minister V. Sampath Kumar said his condition was being monitored.

Burliyar recorded 250 mm of rain in the 24 hours to 7 am on Saturday, which the Nilgiris district administration’s rainfall report categorised as extremely heavy, The Hindu reported. Kil Kotagiri was next with 200 mm, according to The New Indian Express. The India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for heavy rain in the district.

The downpour set off landslides at 19 locations on roads including the Mettupalayam–Ooty and Ooty–Kotagiri routes, and trees fell at 18 places, The New Indian Express reported. At Burliyar, a mini goods carrier also fell into a gorge; its driver climbed out to safety. More than 300 people, including schoolchildren from Kerala on a trip to Ooty, were stranded along the ghat section. Coimbatore Collector Pavankumar G. Giriyappanavar told The Hindu that they had been brought down to Mettupalayam, where they were put up in community halls.

Sampath Kumar said the ghat section would stay closed until further notice. A public safety advisory issued by the district administration on Saturday suspended vehicle movement on the ghat roads, including buses, from 6 pm to 6 am for the next three days, except for essential and emergency vehicles. In Theetukkal near Ooty, a hotel’s retaining wall collapsed, damaging two cars and six two-wheelers, and a night watchman trapped in the mud was rescued. The Forest Department has closed Catherine Falls and the Kodanad viewpoint for now.

Collector Lakshmi Bhavya Taneeru declared a holiday on Saturday for schools in six taluks: Udhagamandalam, Coonoor, Kotagiri, Kundah, Gudalur and Pandalur. The district administration has advised tourists to avoid Ooty until October 26, ETV Bharat reported. Our explainer looks at why this stretch of the Nilgiris keeps sliding.