In Wayanad in Kerala, the death toll in the landslides at Chooralmala and Mundakkai touched 334 on Friday as the Army, NDRF and Navy personnel recovered more bodies. As per the latest report by Onmanorama, at least 276 people are still missing. Other media reports have put that number as high as 288.
Rescue operators are battling adverse conditions, including waterlogged soil and rains, as they search through destroyed homes and buildings looking for survivors or bodies.
Kerala Revenue Minister K Rajan, who is coordinating the search efforts, said 1,300 personnel from various agencies and the armed forces carried out joint search-and-rescue operations in the area, braving the rains, winds and difficult terrain and without the help of heavy machinery.
“We are standing on the terrace of a building and a stench is emanating from underneath, indicating the presence of bodies. The building is fully covered with mud and uprooted trees,” Onmanorama quoted one rescuer as saying.
Rajan said that 9,328 people have been relocated to 91 relief camps in the district. Of these, 2,328 people from 578 displaced families have been moved to nine relief camps, he said.
Wayanad is famed for the tea estates that crisscross its hilly countryside and which rely on a large pool of labourers for planting and harvest. Many of the victims were workers and their families, who lived in brick-walled row houses that were inundated by a powerful wall of brown sludge as their occupants slept.
State health minister Veena George had earlier said that relief workers in the camps were counselling traumatised survivors and cremating dead animals in an effort to prevent disease outbreaks.
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Wayanad landslide death toll at 334, at least 276 still missing
