An excavator digs next to a damaged building after several landslides hit the hills in Wayanad district.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 189 deaths have been officially declared by the Kerala government till Thursday evening in the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslide of Wayanad, while the unconfirmed numbers are around 480.
As many as 395 persons, including at least 29 children, are still reported missing, as per government sources.
The Indian Army team carrying out the rescue operations had informed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that the chances of any more person remaining alive among the debris were quite remote.
The Chief Minister, who visited the landslide-hit spot and met survivors on Thursday, said that the search operation would continue.
Most of the bodies were recovered during the day from Mundakkai region close to the epicentre of the Thursday wee hour landslide. More extensive search is likely to be carried out in the region on Friday as a bailey bridge constructed by the Army for reaching Mundakkai from Chooralmala became operational by Thursday evening.
Bad weather continued to pose risk to the rescue and relief on Thursday also.
A total of 92 body parts were recovered so far, mostly from the Chaliyar river near Pothukallu at Nilambur in adjacent Malappuram district - about 40 kilometres away through the forest from the landslide spot.
The chances of more bodies being washed away through the river is not being ruled out. But search operations in the waterway are quite challenging owing to the heavy flow and presence of many waterfalls along the forest stretch.
It was also estimated that as many as 348 buildings collapsed in the landslide. As many pets and domestic animals were killed and injured in the landslide, animal rescue teams are also involved in the rescue and relief works. Many NGOs are also rushing relief materials to those staying in the relief camps.
Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and Wayanad former MP Rahul Gandhi and his sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi visited the spot and interacted with the survivors.
The Chief Minister, who held an all-party meeting, said that it would take some time to finish the search operations and initiate rehabilitation of the survivors.
Meanwhile, rough weather alert is prevailing in many other northern districts also. At Wadakkanchery in Thrissur many people were shifted to safer places following landslide alerts.