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Heavy rain in the southern coastal state of Kerala, one of
India's most popular tourist destinations, caused landslides in
the hills of Wayanad district early on Tuesday, sending torrents
of mud, water and tumbling boulders downhill and burying or
sweeping people to their deaths as they slept.
The disaster, the worst in Kerala since deadly floods in 2018,
has led to the death of 195 people with nearly 200 still
missing, authorities said. Local Asianet TV said 292 had been
killed.
Two men and two women were found alive by the army in a
marooned, remote area on Friday, V T Mathew, a top army
commander, said.
"They were not buried, they were just in a remote area," he told
Reuters, adding that one of them was injured.
Rescue efforts were hampered initially after Mundakkai, the
worst affected area, was cut off from the nearest town of
Chooralmala as the main bridge connecting them was washed away.
Heavy vehicles had begun to ply on the 190-foot (58-metre)
bridge constructed by army engineers, and drones with
earth-sensing technology to find bodies buried in mud are being
brought in, the army said in a statement.
Rescue teams have deployed additional forces, including swimming
experts, to focus on the Chaliyar river and its river banks
where bodies are likely to be found.
Experts said the area had received heavy rain in the last two
weeks that softened the soil before extremely heavy rainfall on
Monday triggered the landslides.
Nearly 1,600 people have been rescued from hillside villages and
tea and cardamom estates during the last two days, according to
authorities, with nearly 350 buildings damaged.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengatill, Jose Devasia, writing by Tanvi
Mehta; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and YP Rajesh)
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