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Six more bodies found, flood toll in Kerala reaches 121
Revenue officials said 13 people were are still missing from Kavalapara.
Rescuers recovered six more bodies from the scene of a landslide that buried hilly Kavalapara village in Kerala’s Malappuram district on August 9. The toll from the heavy rain that triggered floods and landslides in the state mounted to 121 with the recovery of the six bodies.
Revenue officials said 13 people were are still missing from Kavalapara. Rescuers have installed a ground-penetrating radar system to detect bodies trapped in the mound of slush and debris there.
“We will work till we recover bodies of all the missing,” said Malappuram collector Jafar Malik.
Survivors have been camping at the landslide site for over a week waiting for the bodies of their kin. In Wayanad, a missing person’s body was recovered at least 6 km away from another landslide site in Puthumala, said rescue officials.
Heavy rains triggered landslides at many parts of the state. North Kerala has been the worst hit over the last 10 days. Some areas like Nilambur and Meppadi have received 30 cm of rain in a day.
Rescuers intensified the search for the missing in Kavalapara and Puthumala after the rain abated. Kavalapara and Puthumala come under Congress’s leader Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. Gandhi has visited the constituency twice after the tragedy and distributed 11 truckloads of relief materials.
