Wayanad landslides: Army finds four of an isolated family alive in disaster zone

Indian Army rescues family from landslide-hit Wayanad, Kerala; survivors found safe in isolated house, airlifted by Air Force.

An Indian Army team found four members of a family alive in their intact house at Padavatti Kunnu in landslide-hit Wayanad in Kerala on August 2.

The house abutted one of the worst-hit and far-flung localities in the landslide-devastated Vythiri taluk in the Wayanad district. The survivors escaped the worst ravages of nature because their house was away from the path of the massive earthfall early on July 30.

The Defence’s public relations officer (PRO), Thiruvananthapuram, said an Indian Air Force operation was underway to airlift the survivors from the disaster zone. 

A State police official identified the survivors as Johnny, Joemol, Abraham and Christy. The Defence PRO said Joemol had sustained a leg injury. 

Major General V.T. Mathew, the general officer commanding (GOC) of the Kerala-Karnataka sub-area, told reporters in Wayanad that the Army found the survivors hunkering safely in their home.

However, the landslide had cut the family off from their neighbours, friends and nearby roads. General Mathew, who is in charge of the rescue operations, said the search teams had yet to find survivors buried under the mud or trapped in collapsed structures.

He said several residents, like the rescued family, remained wedded to their environs and were reluctant to move to safer ground as the authorities required. General Mathew did not rule out the possibility that there might be more isolated houses with their inhabitants safe inside in the rugged terrain characterised by switchbacks of hills and wooded valleys.