Around 300 people still missing in Wayanad landslides, confirm officials

Say landslide-affected areas has been divided into six zones and separate search teams with cadaver dogs have initiated search operations

Wayanad: As the massive search and rescue operations in Wayanad’s Mundakkai continue braving rains, Kerala ADGP M R Ajith Kumar on Friday said approximately 300 people were still missing in the devastating landslides that hit the region.

The death toll in the landslides on Tuesday triggered by heavy rains reached over 200 while the authorities expected it to rise in the coming days.

---

Talking to the media while coordinating the search and rescue missions, Kumar said around 300 people were still missing but the final number can be ascertained only after the Revenue Department collects the details.

“Based on the information we have received till now, approximately around 300 people are still missing. However, the Revenue Department is still collating the details. Within one or two days we will be able to get a final picture,” Kumar said.

The ADGP, who is in charge of Law and Order in the State, said the landslide-affected areas has been divided into six zones and separate search teams with cadaver dogs have initiated the search operations.

He said the Kerala police, with the help of specialised agencies, will undertake combing in the Chaliyar river till Kozhikode city. “We are also doing river combing. Yesterday, we found bodies from Pothukal. So now we have directed all the police stations which have jurisdiction along the banks of the Chaliyar river till Kozhikode city, to search their respective areas,” Kumar said.

There were reports of bodies being found from the banks of Chaliyar river in Malappuram district. Authorities had said 143 bodies and several body parts found from the portion of Chaliyar river flowing through Malappuram have been brought to Wayanad.

According to the Wayanad district administration, the dead include 27 children and 76 women. More than 225 others have been injured, mostly in the worst-hit areas of Mundakkai and Chooralmala, the authorities had said.