Death toll in Nilgiris bus mishap rises to nine

The death toll in the bus mishap in the hilly Nilgiris district went up to nine today with two more people succumbing to injuries.

Seven passengers were killed and 27 others injured, some of them seriously, when the bus fell into the 500-feet gorge near Manthada in Nilgiris district yesterday, police said.

The driver of the state-run transport corporation bus was trying to avoid a pit on the ghat road when the mishap occurred killing six people on the spot while another died in hospital later.

Among the injured admitted to the government hospital here, a male passenger succumbed to injuries around midnight, police said.

The bus conductor, who was admitted in a critical condition, died this morning, taking the number of deaths to nine, they said.

The bus was proceeding from Udhagamandalam to Coonoor.

Several parts of Nilgiris district have been receiving heavy rains for the past few days.