Death toll in Wayanad landslides breaches 140 mark; hundreds more still missing

More than 140 people are confirmed dead as of early July 31 after a series of landslides sent torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders crashing into people’s homes as they slept in the south Indian state of Kerala's Wayanad district following torrential rain.

The Mundekkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha villages in the picturesque high-range hamlets of Wayanad, known for its tea and coffee plantations, were among the areas affected and cut off by multiple landslides that started after midnight and continued one after the other until about 6 am on July 30.

Over 140 bodies have been recovered, 200 are injured and undergoing treatment at various hospitals, and dozens of others unaccounted for, state authorities said, as rescuers struggled to reach affected areas completely cut off due to blocked roads and collapsed bridges amid continuing rainfall.

Postmortem procedures of 143 dead bodies have been completed and 83 victims have been identified, officials said.

“There are still people who are trapped under the debris and many have been swept away,” Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters, adding that the rescue operation, involving hundreds of personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Army ― using drones and sniffer dogs ― “will continue with all possible strength and means.”

Vijayan said that more than 3,000 people had been evacuated from the affected area and shifted to about 45 relief camps in the district.

The July 30 landslides are the worst disaster in Kerala, one of India’s top tourist destinations, since the 2018 floods that killed about 400 people.

The death toll in the landslides is sure to rise, said rescue officials, who estimate that at least 400 families are caught in the tragedy. According to local residents, more than 200 houses in Chooralmala have been washed away.

More than 50 bodies, including 25 unidentified body parts, have been recovered from the Chaliyar river several kilometers downstream and are being kept at the Government Hospital in Nilambur, officials said.

According to NDRF’s initial assessment, about 500 houses may have collapsed in the landslides, affecting nearly 1,500 people.

NDRF Commander Akhilesh Kumar said on July 31 morning, “We rescued injured victims from Mundekkai village yesterday. We fear victims might be trapped in collapsed buildings. Till 10 pm last night, we rescued 70 people, after which we had to stop because of bad weather and rain.”

Kumar said it was difficult to give an exact count of the dead as yet because “there are many teams working” in the rescue operations. “We only know about the dead bodies our team has recovered,” he said.

Many survivors are being sheltered in a resort and a mosque on the other side of the river, he said, adding that there are “chances of more landslides” due to ongoing rainfall.

A collapsed bridge between the worst-affected areas of Mundekkai and Chooralmala, coupled with incessant rain and continuing mudslides are making the rescue operation challenging for the forces, NDRF deputy inspector general (DIG) Bharat Bhushan Vaid said.

“A bridge has collapsed between the two spots, Mundekkai and Chooralmala, and that is making a connectivity an issue for the teams on the ground,” Vaid told CNN-News 18 said as TV images showed rescuers, carrying stretchers and other equipment, being pulled across an overflowing muddy stream with the help of ropes.

Troops of the Indian Army have now made a makeshift bridge across the stream and have managed to save about 1,000 people, a senior officer said.

“The bridge has been washed away. It being a vital part, now a temporary bridge has been made. With that, approximately 1,000 plus people have taken towards the safer side. Few dead bodies have been taken,” Colonel Paramvir Singh Nagra of the Defence Security Corps (DSC) Centre was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.

Nagra said that a more solid structure to act as a bridge across the overflowing stream of water is on its way and would reach the spot in the morning of July 31.

“Till the time the bridge comes over here, the temporary bridge is not safe for the civilians to cross over. So, I suggest we should hold. Once there is daylight, we should resume efforts,” he said late on July 30.

He said the Army had been on alert for the past fortnight and was contacted by the Kerala government for help on the morning of July 30 after assessing the gravity of the situation.

This is a “major calamity” and the NDRF, along with the police and fire department, were actively involved in the rescue operations, Nagra said, adding that the Navy and Air Force were contributing equally.

Following a requisition from the Kerala government to rescue about 250 people stranded in Wayanad’s Meppadi Panchayath, two rescue teams of the Indian Army with a strength of approximately 200 soldiers from the DSC in Kannur, along with a medical team from the Military Hospital in Kannur and troops from the Territorial Army from Kozikhode have been deployed, according to an official statement.

“In all, four columns with Medical Aid Posts have reached the site. Areas affected are ― Vellarimela, Muppidi, Mundekkai, Chooralmala, Attamala and Noolpuzha,” Indian Army’s Southern Command said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Two additional relief columns, including medical teams from Trivandrum, are being airlifted to Calicut by Indian Air Force aircraft AN-32 and C-130. An AN-32 aircraft with one column on board has reached Calicut at 5 pm (July 30), and coordination for further movement from Calicut to the affected sites is being coordinated with the Kerala State Government’s assistance,” the Southern Command said.

“Engineer Task Force (ETF) from Madras Engineers Group including JCB & Tatra and One set of 110 feet T/S Baily Bridge and flood relief store underway from Bangalore to mishap site.

“Movement of 110 Feet bridging equipment from Delhi with the help of C-17 underway.

“Three sniffer dogs also being mobilised to the site,” it added.

A Territorial Army official involved in the rescue operation told Education Post that, as of now, rescuers were relying entirely on guidance from locals to reach places where people might be trapped.

“In this kind of weather — continuous heavy rainfall, waterlogging everywhere — dogs tend to lose their sniffing abilities to an extent. We’re hoping that the rain stops, so we can speed up the rescue work. Because the clock is ticking, and every second counts. Every second matters for the person who’s stuck under the pile of debris,” said the official, who could not be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

As rescue workers raced against time to find survivors, the Territorial Army official said: “After assessing the situation here, we’re looking at a disaster of epic proportions. The death toll will go up by the dozens. We haven’t even scratched the surface yet.”

Vijayan, a survivor told a news channel that he woke up in the middle of the night and felt the ground shake and saw electric poles falling.

“I, along with some neighbors, ran to nearby houses where we heard screams and cries for help,” he said. “My father, mother, sister and her daughter were in the verandah of my house at the time. While I was walking towards them, another landslide hit. I held on to a window bar as I saw my family disappear under the mud. There was nothing I could do."

Meanwhile, frantic phone calls were made by people desperately pleading for help after being trapped under destroyed houses and piles of debris on July 30.

Television channels aired phone conversations of several people crying and requesting someone to come and rescue them as they were either trapped in their houses or had no way to travel as bridges had been washed away and the roads were flooded.

In one such conversation, a woman, apparently a native of Chooralmala town, was heard crying aloud, saying that someone in her house was trapped under the marsh and debris and could not be pulled out.

"Someone, please come and help us. We have lost our house. We don't know whether Nausheen (apparently a family member) is alive. She is trapped in the marsh. Our house is in the town itself," the woman could be heard saying.

Another man, in a phone call, alerted that a large number of people were trapped under mud and battling for life in Mundakkai. "If someone can come here by vehicle from the Meppadi area, we can save the lives of hundreds of people," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)