2 days after car falls into gorge, 2 found alive inside vehicle

UDHAGAMANDALAM: Two days after a group of seven tourists from Chennai met with an accident on the Ooty-Kalhatty ghat road, two were found alive and admitted to Ooty General Hospital on Wednesday. Police also recovered the bodies of the five deceased tourists from the car.

Sources said the vehicle had plunged 50-60 feet into a gorge after crashing through a roadside steel barricade.

The group had checked into a hotel in Ooty on September 30 and had left for Masinagudi, 35km away, on October 1. Hotel staff realised they were missing on Wednesday morning when the group did not check out by noon and alerted the police. Nilgiris superintendent of police D Shanmuga Priya said, "Their car was found amid dense foliage on the Ooty-Kalhatty ghat road."

"The two survivors were unable to move as they were pinned down by two bodies. It's a miracle they survived for nearly three days inside the crashed car," Priya said.