Overview
- A TNSTC bus was buried by a landslide on the Mettupalayam–Coonoor ghat near Burliar, killing driver Janagaraj and seriously injuring conductor Kesavan after they were struck by mud, rocks and uprooted trees.
- Rescue crews and heavy machinery have been working since Saturday to free people and clear debris, with Fire and Rescue teams, TNDRF, two NDRF teams and highway crews engaged on site and the conductor hospitalised.
- Officials recorded dozens of slope failures across the Nilgiris, reporting as many as 62 landslips in one 24‑hour period and seven fresh slips afterward, while Burliar gauges logged roughly 250 mm of rain in 24 hours.
- Roads, tourist sites and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway section remain closed or diverted, hundreds of tourists and schoolchildren were evacuated to relief camps, and vehicle movement on ghat roads has been time‑restricted pending safety checks.
- Local researchers and the Nilgiri Documentation Centre say past hazard studies identified vulnerable slopes at Burliar and urge that those findings be used now to guide stabilisation, landslide mapping and stricter safety planning before reopening the ghat routes.