Chances of rescue workers spotting more survivors in disaster zone appear remote, says CM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addresses dim chances of finding more survivors in landslide-hit areas, with death toll at 177.

With the sun setting on Thursday’s search and rescue operations, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the chances of finding more survivors trapped in the landslide-hit Mundakkai, Chooralmala and Attamala appeared dim.

At an all-party meeting chaired by Mr. Vijayan in Wayanad, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Kerala-Karnataka sub-area, Major General V.T. Mathew, informed the government that the odds were that no one was left alive in the disaster zone. Major General Mathew is in charge of the Army’s rescue efforts.

As the third day of the search and rescue operations wound down, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) put the official death toll at 177.

The victims included 81 men, 70 women and 25 children. Next of kin have identified 98 bodies. As many as 29 students of Mundakkai and Vellarimala government schools were missing.

Forensic doctors could not identify the gender of one body. They autopsied 225 bodies, many mangled. Rescue workers discovered 92 dismembered bodies washed up on the shores of downstream Chaliyar.

Officials feared the number of dead could rise further as more personnel and equipment reached the marooned Mundakkai village through the Bailey bridge erected by the Army over the Iruravazhinji river. The earthfall had washed a bridge that spanned the river on July 30, rendering access to Mundakkai hazardous.

Emergency responders rescued 234 persons from the disaster zone on Thursday. The landslide decimated an estimated 348 houses.