Overview
- Police said the tempo traveller, which lost control Friday at the 13th hairpin bend on the Valparai–Pollachi ghat road, plunged toward the 9th bend and killed nine tourists from Kerala.
- Most of the dead were teachers and relatives from the Pang‑Palliparamba government primary school in Malappuram, while four survivors including the 21‑year‑old driver are under care in Pollachi and Coimbatore.
- Rescuers from Valparai and Kadambarai police and Fire and Rescue Services navigated steep terrain to pull victims from the wreck, then registered a case and opened an investigation.
- Postmortems finished overnight and the bodies were returned to Malappuram for large public funerals, as leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan offered condolences and support.
- The Pollachi–Valparai stretch has more than 40 sharp hairpin bends that strain braking on long descents, a known hazard tied to several serious crashes on this mountain road.