A KSRTC bus that narrowly escaped two disasters in Wayanad

This KSRTC bus has luck painted all over it!

Two years ago, in July, the Mundakkai-Chooralmala KSRTC bus in Kerala's Wayanad had just completed its daily service around 9.45 pm and was parked in Chooralmala. Its conductor and driver did not know that within a few hours, the peaceful spot in front of the bus would turn into a deep gorge following two massive landslides that killed around 300 people.

The conductor and driver were safe, as they were staying away from the disaster spot. The bus too was safe, just that it got stranded on the other side of the Iruvanjippuzha River after the Chooralmala bridge collapsed. It was finally brought back to Kalpetta after the Bailey Bridge was constructed.

On Tuesday, when the landslip occurred in Wayanad's Kalladi, the same bus had one more narrow escape.  As disaster struck, the bus, on its way from Kalpetta to Chooralmala was almost near the Meenakashi bridge and about to cross it. However, the driver spotted the landslip and stopped the bus immediately. 

Though mud and sludge came in a huge wave towards the bus within seconds, it didn’t cause any damage to the bus or the passengers. The bus driver, Meppady Arapattu native Anil Varghese, and conductor Thamarassery native Lalson, say they would have been trapped in the landslip had the bus been a little faster.

The KSRTC bus service to Chooralmala will operate only after the Meenakshi bridge is cleared for traffic and the mud and sludge are removed. The bus returned to Kalpetta by noon, unable to complete its trip.

What happened in Wayanad
The massive landslip on July 7 struck at the site of the under-construction Anakkampoyil-Kalladi-Meppadi twin tunnel project in Meppadi. The region has been experiencing extreme monsoon rainfall for the past few days. So far, the tragedy has caused three deaths, and five people are also missing. 

'Wayanad' has 20K search volume on Google Trends in the past 21 hours.