Wayanad landslides: 221 dead as agencies continue search ops
On July 30, multiple landslides, flattened the three villages which housed over 400 buildings including homes, mosques, temples, schools, and shops.
The toll in Wayanad rose to 221 on Sunday, as rescue personnel from various agencies continued their search for landslide victims under the debris of three villages flattened on the morning on July 30.
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A release from the chief minister’s said that apart from the dead, 172 body parts were also retrieved from the affected areas, and from the Chaliyar river in neighbouring Malappuram district.
Rescue personnel from the army, NDRF, Kerala fire and rescue services, Coast Guard, civil defence volunteers and locals continued to scan various parts of the Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Punchirimattom villages using advanced equipment and modern sensors for sign of survivors and remains of victims.
Multiple landslides, within a space of three hours, early on July 30 flattened the three villages which housed over 400 buildings including homes, mosques, temples, schools and shops.
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Rescue personnel believe that the remains of the victims may have flowed into the Chaliyar river from the Iruvazhinji river, one of its tributaries, which carried the most parts of the landslide debris and slush.
The state has also started the process of collecting blood samples from the kin of the dead in order to help identify the bodies and body parts through DNA tests.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the model of rehabilitation implemented in the aftermath of the 2019 Puthumala landslide, in which 17 people died, will form the basis of the rehabilitation plan now.
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“Seven kilometres away from the Puthumala landslide site, plots measuring eight cents and a home were prepared for 63 persons as part of the project called ‘Harsham’. Voluntary organisations and NGOs also held hands with the state government in implementing the rehabilitation plan. Apart from housing, facilities for farming and leisure were also arranged there,” the CM said in a statement.
Meanwhile, on directions of the state government, eight unidentified bodies were buried at a mass grave late Sunday in Puthumala following all-faith prayers.
While the government is yet to announce the number of people missing from the tragedy, the chief minister’s office said that the civil supplies department will help arrive at the number by assessing ration card details of the residents in the area.