Wayanad: 1,300 rescuers race against time to search for survivors

Over 300 people still missing; private companies and volunteers join operations led by army, police and emergency service units

Wayanad: Search operations started early Saturday with more than 1,300 rescuers, heavy machinery and sophisticated equipment being deployed to look for survivors from the ravages of the landslides that have killed more than 200 people.

Private companies specialising in the field of search and rescue, and volunteers have also joined the operations led by the army, police and emergency service units.

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However, huge boulders and logs brought by landslides and deposited in the residential areas of Mundakkai and Chooralmala are posing a significant challenge to rescue efforts to locate people believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.

As many as 210 people have died and 273 were injured in the massive landslides that hit Wayanad district in the wee hours of July 30. Around 300 people are suspected to be missing and rescue operators are battling adverse conditions, including waterlogged soil, as they search through destroyed homes and buildings.

The district administration had on Friday divided the landslide-hit areas into zones, mapped potential spots for rescue work by using GPS, took aerial photographs and cell phone location data.

They have also used ground penetrating radar and cadaver dog squads to look for bodies buried deep under the debris. A large number of medical professionals, from the armed forces as well as civilians, and ambulances have been on stand by in the area to provide immediate aid if any survivors are found.

The 190-foot-long Bailey bridge, constructed by the army on Thursday and handed over to the Wayanad administration, has so far proven crucial in rescue efforts. The bridge that has allowed movement of heavy machinery and ambulances to the landslide-hit areas will serve till a proper bridge is built in the area.

Rescue operations are also ongoing along the 40-kilometre stretch of the Chaliyar river which flows through Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts. More than a hundred bodies and body parts have been recovered from the river and its banks.