Woman who lost family in Wayanad landslide injured in road accident, fiancé hospitalised

Kalpetta: Nine people were injured in a collision between an Omni van and a private bus at Vellaramkunnu in Wayanad on Tuesday. The injured include Lavanya and Sruthi from Chooralmala, who previously lost their family members, including their parents, in the recent landslide in Wayanad.

Jenson, Sruthi's fiancé, was also injured and is in critical condition with head injuries. Lavanya's relatives—Madhavi, Ratnamma, Arya, Anilkumar, and Anoopkumar—were also injured in the accident.

The crash happened around 3:30 p.m. on the Kozhikode-Kollegal National Highway near Vellaramkunnu. The van, in which Sruthi and others were travelling, collided with a bus named 'Butterfly' travelling from Kozhikode to Sultan Bathery. Fire rescue teams from Kalpetta, along with local residents, worked to rescue passengers trapped inside the vehicle.

Sruthi had lost nine members of her family, including her father Shivanna, mother Sabitha, and sister-in-law Shreya, in a devastating landslide that struck the district in July. She survived because she was working in Kozhikode at the time.

A month before the landslide, Jenson and Sruthi had gotten engaged, coinciding with the housewarming of Sruthi's new house. The joy of these events was overshadowed by the tragedy. Since then, Jenson has been a pillar of support for Sruthi, and the couple was planning to marry in December. Lavanya, daughter of Shivanna's brother Siddaraj, also lost her parents and brother in the landslide.