4 tourists injured as van overturns

Coimbatore: As many as four tourists were injured when the van they were travelling in overturned after a brake failure near the 3rd hairpin bend on Mettupalayam-Coonoor Ghat on early Monday morning. A total of 16 passengers and two drivers in the van were returning to Chennai via Ooty.
The injured were Z Harsia Farthose, 46, Z Nainar Mohammed, 57, B Sherif Afridi,24, and H Hasriya, 12. Harsia and Nainar fractured bones of their legs while Hasriya’s wrist bones were broken. Nainar suffered minor injury on his chest.
The tourists visited Wayanad on June 4. After spending two days there, they were returning to Chennai via Gudalur, Ooty and Mettupalayam. A Manikandan, 29, of Chengalpat, drove the van.
The driver lost control of the vehicle when brake failed on the Mettupalayam-Coonoor Ghat around 3am on Monday. The vehicle hit the steel guard installed on the roadside and overturned.
Other motorists alerted the Mettupalayam police, who rushed to the spot and rescued the injured passengers. The injured were sent to a private hospital in Coimbatore.
Police registered a case against Manikandan under sections 279 and 337 of the Indian Penal Code.