Kerala: Landslide in Wayanad leaves one dead, several injured

Bengaluru: One person is confirmed dead and several were injured after a portion of earth caved in due to heavy downpour in Wayanad district in Kerala, two years after the region suffered its worst catastrophe. The government is trying to locate the missing people and those trapped in debris.

The incident occurred at a construction site of a twin-tunnel project at Kalladi, near the previous disaster area. A portion of the wall collapsed while concrete workers were underway.

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Chief Minister VD Satheesan said he was personally monitoring the situation and drafted two ministers to the district to supervise the rescue operations.

Agriculture minister T Siddique said it was not a natural landslide, but a man-made landslide. Six seriously injured persons had been admitted to the hospital. The district administration would continue searching and rescue at the landslid site, he said.

The district administration, the minister added, had alerted the Konkan Railways about the possibility of a landslide at the site. Two teams comprising a total of 60 NDRF personnel from Wayanad and Kozhikode had been deploed at the site. “Konkan Railways was requested to act earlier, but they did not take any action. Such things cannot be tolerated because two years ago, 298 people lost their lives in a landslide at Mundakkai," the minister said.

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Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra said all efforts were on to rescue those still trapped in the landslide. The CM was monitoring relief efforts himself, the police and NDRF have been at the site for some time, SDRF teams and civil defence volunteers have also reached.

She appealed to UDF workers, and members of the public, to provide all possible support while strictly following the administration’s guidelines. “At a time like this, we need to ensure that relief and rescue efforts are not hampered, and we ensure all possible help without causing any distractions.”