Searches continue amid fading hope in Wayanad

Wayanad landslides: Joint teams of Army, Kerala Police, National Disaster Response Force, Coast Guard, and volunteers scour landslide-devastated Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Attamala of Wayanad for survivors on day four of rescue operations

Joint teams of the Army, State police, National Disaster Response Force, Coast Guard, and volunteers scoured the landslide-devastated Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Attamala localities of Wayanad for survivors, as search and rescue operations continued for the fourth day on Augsut 2. 

The laborious, and often dangerous work seemed to enter a new phase as rescuers and officials quietly acknowledged that the possibility of finding survivors remained remote, as operations continued amid the expansive and muddy field of mangled bodies, displaced boulders, uprooted trees, and collapsed houses.

The search on August 2 yielded 14 more bodies. The government put the official death toll at 210, including 96 men, 85 women and 29 children. Over 134 body parts were retrieved by August 2 evening, with 146 of them being identified by families. Local hospitals have been treating 273 persons admitted since July 30. The government has housed hundreds more in nine relief camps. Unverified reports put the death toll over 300.

However, rescue workers continued their relentless search for survivors. They actively pursued signals picked up by ground-penetrating radars and points flagged by Army and police dog squads. GPS-aided digital maps were used to pinpoint locations of houses in the disaster zone. The spots were excavated for possible survivors and bodies.  

Simultaneously, a large posse of police personnel, local divers, scouts, and guides combed the banks of the Chaliyar River in Malappuram for bodies of Wayanad landslide victims washed downstream by the swollen Iruvanjipuzha River, which abuts the disaster zone. Navy and Coast Guard helicopters also joined the search. 

The government moved heavy machinery, including earthmovers, to the disaster-hit Mundakkai area, which remained cut-off for more than two days after the catastrophe.

The massive earthfall had swept away the bridge across the Iruvanjipuzha, forcing rescue workers to take perilous detours and ropeways to reach Mundakkai. The impact had bifurcated the river into two fast-flowing streams.