Eight people, mostly women were killed when a jeep they were travelling in fell into a gorge in Wayanad district on Friday, police said. They said there were at least 12 people in the jeep when the accident took place at around 3.30 PM in the Valad-Mananthavady road.

"The jeep was returning to Makkimala with women working in a private tea estate," a local resident told the media.

The victims were rushed to a hospital at Mananthavady but police said eight of them lost their lives.

"The condition of at least two people is serious," a senior police official told PTI.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed Forest Minister A K Saseendran, who was in Kozhikode, to rush to the accident site. The CM gave directions to coordinate all measures including the treatment of the injured and take care of other necessary things, a CMO statement said here.

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