Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter |
At least 166 people died and 200 missing after hillsides collapsed due to the heavy rains in the Wayanad district of Kerala state, India, the most attractive tourist destinations on Tuesday July 30, 2024.
Thousands of people have been rescued after the landslide collapsed that caused sending torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders through tea and cardamom estates and small settlements said the authorities on Wednesday.
The Indian Army informed about rescuing 1,000 people and said to begun the process of constructing an alternate bridge after the destruction of main bridge linking the worst affected area of Mundakkai (an area highly prone to disasters) to the nearest town of Chooralmala.
According to the reports, the Indian army evacuated more than 5,500 people from the area, including hundreds of stranded tourists, and took them to dozens of relief camps as the heavy rains continued.
The authorities are doing rescue operations expecting more bodies in the debris also doing their best by removing trees and boulders from a mound of debris.
Over 300 rescuers are working to pull out people stuck under mud and debris, but their efforts were hampered by heavy rainfall, blocked roads and unstable terrain.
“We are quite sure there are multiple bodies here,” said Hamsa T A, a fire and rescue worker.”
“There were many houses here, people living inside have been missing” the authorities said.
Nearly 350 of the 400 registered houses in the affected area have been damaged, reported by the Kerala’s Asianet TV channel.
“Focus right now is to search the entire uphill area for stranded people and recover as many bodies (as possible),” said M R Ajith Kumar, a top state police officer.
Tuesday’s incident counted to be the worst disaster in the state since deadly floods in 2018.
