‘Bring him back’: Hope meets loss in Indian villages hit by landslides
Al Jazeera
Nearly 300 people have been killed in the landslides in Kerala state, and the toll is expected to rise.
Wayanad, India — Braving heavy rain, Ubais VV rushed to the government hospital in Meppadi village.
Around him, ambulances flashing red and blue lights and blaring their sirens also arrived at the hospital, carrying bodies of people buried or washed away by a series of landslides that devastated three villages on Tuesday in Kerala’s Wayanad district in the mountains of the Western Ghats.
The 56-year-old Ubais had prayers on his lips as he searched for his daughter Risana, grandson Hanil, son-in-law Firose and the parents of Firose. But he couldn’t find them in the hospital. Instead, the next day, rescue workers retrieved Firose’s body from the Chaliyar River. Now, Ubais is hoping against hope that the rest of his family survived.
“I haven’t spent enough time with my beloved grandson. Hope Allah the Almighty will bring him back,” he told Al Jazeera on Thursday at the mosque in the village of Meppadi.
The confirmed death toll from the multiple landslides stood at 289 as of Thursday, but those steering the search operations and people’s representatives in local self-government bodies believe the actual count could be higher.
