Ooty: As many as 52 passengers and the crew of a state-owned transport bus had a miraculous escape near Valley View along the Ooty-NH near here on Thursday morning, as the bus skidded off the road along the Ketti slopes for a few seconds, hit a parapet wall and rammed a rock and few trees on the edge before perching on them.
While the front portion of the bus was dangling in the air after hitting a parapet wall, the rock and the trees little down the parapet wall saved it from going down the near 200 ft depth slopes.
It is said that the Tirupur-Ooty-Gudalur bus which began its journey
at Tirupur by 6 am was nearing Valley view, four kms away from here, by 9.30 am.
At that point, the driver lost control when he tried to move the bus towards the western corner of the road on seeing a speeding truck coming from the opposite side. The bus hit the parapet wall along the edge of the road on the slope and might have plunged down.
However, it rammed against a rock and a bunch of trees along the rock, which providentially made the bus rest on the rock and the trees.
The front portion of the bus was completely damaged. While Mr. Murthy, the driver of the bus sustained minor injury, others in the bus escaped unhurt, sources said.
Had the bus not come to a halt after hitting the wall it could have plunged into a 200 feet deep gorge in the slopes that would have turned catastrophic for all with more casualties.
