Kottayam: For nearly 10 hours, students and teachers from various schools in Kerala returning from trips to Ooty remained stranded in their vehicles near Coonoor and Burliar in Tamil Nadu on Friday, caught between hairpin bends and unsure of what was happening in the darkness. It was only after daybreak on Saturday that they realised the traffic congestion was linked to a mudslide that had claimed the life of a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus driver and injured its conductor.

Among those stranded were seven staff members and 78 students of Buchanan Girls High School, Pallom, Chingavanam, whose buses were returning from an excursion to Ooty. The school's headmistress, Beena Mary, recalled that the buses remained stationary on the road from 11 pm until 9 am the following day, with no information about what was happening around them.

"We had spent a day in Ooty and were coming back when there was a traffic block in the Burliar area. The bus had only three more hairpin bends to cover when it had to stop due to the congestion. Two of our buses were there, stationary on the road, with a gorge on one side and a hill on the other," she told Onmanorama.

Initially, the teachers and students believed they were caught in an ordinary traffic jam and expected the congestion to clear soon. "We thought it was just a traffic block and it would pass," Beena Mary said.

However, as daylight broke, the extent of the situation became clear. Several vehicles had been trapped between sections of the road where mud had slipped down the slopes, leaving passengers stranded. "Lots of vehicles were trapped between sections of mud that had slipped in the area," she said.

Poor mobile network connectivity made the situation more difficult, hindering communication with parents. However, the school staff formed a group with parents to share updates whenever the network permitted. Fortunately, there were toilets near the spot where the buses had stopped, allowing the girls to use them during the prolonged wait, the headmistress said.

"Around 9 am, officials, including personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), reached us and informed us about the situation," Beena Mary said.

Multiple teams of police personnel, fire and rescue services and the NDRF reached the affected stretch and launched rescue operations. According to Ooty fire force personnel, the congestion began after a bus broke down and subsequently became trapped in the mudslide-affected stretch, triggering a traffic pile-up. More than 100 students travelling on school excursions from Kerala had a narrow escape, as their vehicles had stopped barely 300 metres behind the disaster zone.

Coimbatore Collectorate Public Relations Officer A Senthil told Onmanorama that all the stranded students were safely evacuated by noon on Saturday and taken to Mettupalayam, where they were provided with food and water.

The ordeal also left some students distressed. Some panicked and fainted, prompting the authorities to arrange ambulances to take them to safety. "The rescue teams evacuated people from the stranded vehicles one by one. We had to cross the mud-covered sections on foot to reach safety," Beena Mary said. The school's buses were brought back only later, after the rescue operation had progressed.

Despite the long hours of uncertainty, the Buchanan Girls High School group eventually returned to Kottayam safely. All the students have since returned to their homes, and none of the students or staff members sustained injuries. "The students have gone home. No staff member or student was injured, though they were shaken by the incident," Beena Mary said.

Students from Pala St Thomas School and St Antony's Higher Secondary School, Mutholi, were also caught in the congestion and rescued in a similar manner.