THIRUVANANTHPURAM: At least 107 people were killed following multiple landslides in the hills of India’s southern state of Kerala on Tuesday, local media reported.
The landslides were triggered after torrential rainfall on Monday in the Wayanad district of Kerala, a popular tourist destination in India. Most of the victims of the natural disaster were tea estate workers and their families who were asleep in makeshift shelters.
Local Meteorological Department has predicted extremely heavy rain in the region. The Kerala chief minister’s office in a statement said that the relief efforts are underway in the affected area. However, emergency officials said that the rescue efforts were hampered as there was no internet in the area.
Television images showed rescuers carrying stretchers and other equipment to rescue people. TV pictures showed one man was stuck in the mud for hours and unable to free himself until he was finally rescued by emergency workers.
India’s Asianet TV reported about 100 families were stranded after the landslides. Nearly 350 families lived in the affected area, and 250 people had been rescued so far, state officials said.
Army engineers were also deployed in the areas to build a replacement bridge after the one that linked the affected region to the nearest town of Chooralmala was collapsed, the chief minister’s office said in a statement.
“A small team has managed to cross the bridge across the river and reach (the site) but we will need to send many more to provide help and to start rescue operations,” Kerala chief secretary V. Venu told reporters, adding that many people were still missing.
Although the area is a major tourist destination, local residents were the most affected as all tourist excursions had been stopped since Monday because of the rain. Tuesday’s landslides are the worst natural disaster in Kerala since 2018 when heavy floods killed almost 400 people.
“We fear the gravity of this tragedy is much more. Rescue operations are being carried out by various agencies on a war footing,” state cabinet minister M. B. Rajesh told local media.
Rashid Padikkalparamban, a resident helping in the relief efforts, said there were at least three landslides in the area, which destroyed the bridge connecting the Mundakkai estates to Chooralmala.
“Many people who were working in the estates and staying in makeshift tents inside are feared trapped or missing,” he said.
India’s Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who won a seat in Wayanad in the recent election, said he had spoken to the chief minister of Kerala to ensure coordination with all rescue and relief agencies.
“The devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking,” he said in a message on X. “I have urged the union government to extend all possible support.”
