Wayanad, July 30 (UNI): The death toll rose to 106 in the two massive landslides that washed away Mundakkai and Chooramala areas of Vellarimala village under Meppadi Panchayat in Wayanad district in Kerala on Tuesday early morning.
About 131 injured people were admitted to various hospitals and 90 persons were missing in connection with the tragic incident, official sources said.
As many as 70 houses were fully damaged, Vellaramala GVHSS school was partially damaged and several shops were fully or partially damaged in the impact at Chooralmala town.
Only 42 bodies have been identified and 20 post-mortems have been conducted, so far, official sources said.
About 63 bodies were kept in the Community Health Centre( CHC) at Meppadi and the remaining four bodies were kept in a private hospital at Meppadi and 48 bodies were kept at Nilambur district hospital in Malappuram district.
A temporary bridge connecting Chooralmala to Mundakkai was constructed by the Military around 5.30 pm, while airlifting of the first group of injured and old aged people was conducted by Indian Airforce around 1800 hrs.
Three ways of evacuation of the people began from Munadakai. People were evacuated through ropeway, temporary bridges and helicopters from Chooralmala in the evening.
The search and rescue operations under the NDRF, Military personnel from Kannur, Pangode and Chennai, and a Naval force from the Indian Naval Academy are still going on.
Sources said 22 school students of GVHSS, Vellaramala, were also missing out of the total strength of 582 students studying in one to plus two in this incident. School authorities informed that they were trying to contact all the students through teachers, but no response for 22 students, so far.
Suspected that some of the mobile phones of the students are not functioning due to lack of battery charge or loss of the mobiles of them was the cause of not attending the call from school authorities.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed the tragic incident as heartbreaking.
The Chief Minister also visited the office of Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and reviewed the ongoing relief and rescue operations at Chooralmala.
He said an army team led by a Lieutenant colonel crossed the nearest river and reached the Mundakkai market area from where several stranded people were being rescued.
Several bodies and body parts were found in the Chaliyar river in the nearest Malappuram district, he added.
The first landslide occurred at 2 AM on Tuesday. The second landslide happened at 4.10 AM. Many places in the area including Meppadi and Mundakai Churalmala were isolated and the Churalmala and Mundakai road was washed away.
The Vellarmala GVH School has been completely buried under mud. The damage to homes and livelihoods is huge, he added.
“Tributes were paid to those who lost their lives. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose have directly called to inquire about the tragedy and offered all help,” he said.
The Leader of the opposition in the State assembly, the deputy leader of the opposition and the former leader of the opposition have called and said that they can work together, he added.
Stating that 45 relief camps have been opened in Wayanad, he said 3069 people were shifted to various camps. A total of 118 camps are functioning across the state. A total of 5,531 people have been accommodated on the campus.
