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Kerala landslides: Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi visit Wayanad
Over 250 people have been killed and about 200 injured in the devastating landslides in Wayanad.
Congress leader and former Wayanad MP, Rahul Gandhi, and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday visited Wayanad's Chooralmala, where devastating landslides killed over 250 people and injured about 200.
The massive landslides struck Mundakkai and Churalmala in Wayanad in the early hours of July 30, causing extensive destruction. Authorities fear of a surge in fatalities.
Rescue teams are racing against time to trace the missing people and struggling to continue the rescue efforts in challenging terrain without heavy machinery to uncover debris and buried victims.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Kerala on Thursday afternoon, a day after their visit to the southern state was postponed due to bad weather.
The two will visit various relief camps set up in the landslides-hit areas of Wayanad district, PTI reported, citing unidentified sources in the Congress.
Also Read | Opposition urge Centre to declare Wayanad landslides a ‘national disaster’
Gandhi and Vadra landed at Kannur airport at 9.30am and then travelled to Wayanad by road. They reached Chooralmala in the afternoon. AICC general secretary and Alappuzha MP KC Venugopal is also accompanying them.
According to their itinerary shared by the party, Gandhi and Vadra are scheduled to visit the Chooralmala landslide spot as well as a Community Health Centre, Dr Moopen’s Medical College and two relief camps at Meppadi.
Also Read | ‘Remote sensing not enough, need sensors on ground’: Shashi Tharoor on predicting landslides
Gandhi, who won from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections, had again won from here this year. However, as he also won the Raebareli LS seat in Uttar Pradesh, he gave up the Wayanad constituency from where Priyanka is expected to contest when a by-election is held there.
Rescue ops facing challenges
Rescue workers have said that heavy machinery was required to remove the huge trees uprooted in the landslides that also buried several houses.
"We are standing on the terrace of a building and a stench is emanating from underneath, indicating the presence of bodies. The building is fully covered with mud and uprooted trees," an unidentified rescue operator was quoted as saying by PTI.
The operator said that excavators were available for the operations but added that they were insufficient for the task.
"Heavy machinery is required to remove the huge trees and carry out search operations in the collapsed buildings. Only then can we make progress in the search operations," he added.
According to state revenue minister K Rajan, over 1,600 rescue workers, including the Army, Navy, NDRF, the police, Fire and Rescue, among other forces, are involved in rescue operations in the landslide-hit region.
