Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Amid incessant rains and difficult terrain, more than 40 rescue teams from various agencies and government departments searched for any survivors in slush and mud left by the killer landslide on Tuesday in the Wayanad district of Kerala where the death toll mounted to over 300 as another 300-odd people were still missing, the media reported on Friday.
In a related development, four people were killed and 49 were said to be missing following multiple cloudbursts in Himachal Pradesh, where heavy rains washed away numerous houses, bridges, and roads.
The Kerala government on Thursday announced that all survivors from the landslide-affected villages have been rescued.
Officials intensified search and rescue operations after the military engineers set up on Thursday a 190-feet-long Bailey bridge to enable the movement of heavy machinery, including excavators, and ambulances to the worst-affected Punchirimattam, Mundakkai, and Chooralmala hamlets of the district.
The joint teams include personnel from the army, NDRF, DSG, Coast Guard, Navy, and MEG, along with three local and one forest department employee teams.
The extent of human loss will emerge when rescuers clear houses covered by debris and wood logs using heavy machinery. So far, officially, 190 people have been killed, and nearly 300 went missing in the tragedy.
Officials said a search operation will also be conducted in the Chaliyar River, as several bodies were washed away downstream. Some of them have already been found in the river. The eight police stations, along the 40-km stretch of the Chaliyar, will join forces with local swimming experts to search the river.
During a review meeting held in Kalpetta, Wayanad, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “All those who are alive have been saved in the last three days.”
The CM said, “It is assumed that nobody is left to be saved in the villages of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, and Attamala. Rescue workers are looking into whether anyone got stranded individually. What is left is to retrieve bodies from the area.”
Rescue teams also retrieved 92 body parts, primarily from the Chaliyar River in Malappuram’s Nilambur area. Officials reported that 252 post-mortems have been conducted, including examinations of the body parts.
CM Vijayan said that 29 students are missing from two local schools: the government lower primary school in Mundakkai and the government higher secondary school in Chooralmala– and that 348 buildings were damaged due to the landslidse.
A protocol has been established for the cremation or burial of unidentified bodies, and with additional freezers needed for storage, the Karnataka government has offered to provide the necessary equipment.
Heavy rains triggered massive landslides in Wayanad early morning on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of over 300 people and injuring hundreds of others. The Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and local emergency teams initiated a joint search and rescue operation to locate those believed to be trapped under the debris.
On Thursday, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and KC Venugopal visited Kerala to evaluate the current rescue efforts.
In Himachal Pradesh, cloudbursts in the Mandi, Shimla, and Kullu districts on Thursday resulted in about 50 people being reported missing, with five bodies found so far. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a ‘red’ alert for Kangra, Kullu, and Mandi, as more rainfall is expected.
Officials reported that a flash flood alert was issued for six districts in the state for Friday. The IMD identified Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Chamba, and Sirmaur as the areas at risk.
Efforts to rescue more than 45 people who went missing following cloudbursts and subsequent flash floods are currently underway across three districts of Himachal Pradesh. Authorities confirmed the safe rescue of 29 individuals trapped at a power project site in the state as of Thursday night.
The Indian Army has sent three teams with a combined total of 125 personnel, an Engineer Task Force, and a medical team of 20 members to the cloudburst-affected area in Shimla district.