NDRF and Fire and Rescue service personnel searching for bodies in the trail of devastation left by landslides at Chooralmala in Wayanad on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat
The death toll in the landslides that devastated Chooral Mala and Mundakkai areas near Meppadi in Wayanad district of Kerala crossed 200 as the search and rescue operations gained momentum on Wednesday.
Personnel of the Army, Defence Security Corps (DSC), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the Forest and Fire and Rescue Service picked through the debris strewn across the affected areas with the support of volunteers and rescue equipment, including earth movers. Searing visuals of bodies being pulled out of the rubble, people desperately searching for their loved ones and terrified survivors recounting their ordeal filled television screens and social media platforms through the day.
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A total of 167 bodies and 61 body parts were retrieved by Wednesday evening. As many as 191 persons were reported missing. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said 1,592 persons were rescued from the ravaged sites in two days and admitted to various hospitals. Ninety-nine persons were undergoing treatment and the remaining people were shifted to various relief camps.
The heavy layer of slush and the slippery terrain adversely affected the progress of the search on Wednesday. A makeshift bridge, constructed by soldiers, to cross the river for rescue operations was submerged in rainwater by evening. Meanwhile, the Army started building a 190-metre Bailey bridge across the Punna River, a tributary of the Chaliyar River, to connect the affected areas. The bridge would have a carrying capacity of 20 tonnes and the construction would be completed by Friday evening. The parts of the bridge were being brought from Delhi to Kannur airport by flight and it would be transported to the site by 15 trucks. Materials for the purpose would also be brought from Bangalore.
Kerala and Karnataka sub-area General Officer Commanding (GOC) Major General V.T. Mathew is coordinating the Army’s rescue operations. Mr. Mathew said 100 more soldiers would soon join the rescue operations at Chooralmala. Three sniffer dogs of the Army would be brought from Meerut in a special flight of the Air Force to locate people buried under the debris, he added.
Modern techniques
The district administration is considering the feasibility of modern techniques such as ground mapping and use of the ground penetrating radar to retrieve the bodies buried deep in the debris. Air Force helicopters dropped food materials including drinking water provided by the Kozhikode district administration in the affected areas of Chooralmala and Mundakkai and transported injured citizens to hospital.
Also read: Wayanad landslide bears a resemblance to a dam break, says expert
Mr. Vijayan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday before leaving for Wayanad that efforts were on to relocate citizens, including tribals from landslide-prone areas. He said more than 8,000 persons had been shifted to 82 relief camps in Wayanad district. As many as 1,167 rescue workers were involved in the search operations.
The Chief Minister added that three teams of the NDRF and units of the Madras regiment, DSC, Navy, Coast Guard and the dog squad of the Kerala Police as well as Special Operations Group and High Altitude team were working in tandem with State departments and agencies.
More forensic teams have been deployed to conduct post-mortem of the bodies recovered from the landslide debris and samples of body parts were being sent for DNA analysis.
Meanwhile, Wayanad District Collector D.R. Meghasree declared a holiday on Thursday for all educational institutions, including professional colleges, in the district since major tributaries of the Kabani River, including Mananthavady and Panamaram rivers, are in spate, threatening to inundate low-lying areas.
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