Wayanad landslides: Kerala launches massive search operation to retrieve bodies of those washed downstream in Chaliyar river in Malappuram

Kerala government orders police to recover bodies of Wayanad landslide victims; rescue teams mobilized, search continues.

The Kerala government has ordered eight police stations abutting the Chaliyar river in Malappuram district to muster teams of local scouts and divers to recover the bodies of Wayanad landslide victims washed downstream by the swollen Iruvanjipuzha river abutting the disaster zone.

Until August 1, rescue workers and local volunteers had retrieved 143 bodies swept into the Chaliyar river after multiple landslides levelled Mundakkai, Attamala, and Chooralmala settlements in Wayanad early on July 30.

The massive earthfall bulldozed the villages and swept them into the Iruvanjipuzha, which joins the Chaliyar several kilometres downstream.

The sludge and debris from the landslides bifurcated the Iruvanjipuzha river into two separate streams. They destroyed the key bridge linking Chooramala to Mundakkai, one of the worst-hit localities.

Revenue Minister K. Rajan, who heads the Cabinet subcommittee monitoring search and rescue operations in Wayanad, said Navy and Coast Guard helicopters had helped locate at least 12 bodies that floated someway downstream from the disaster zone.

He said more could have washed up on the shores of the Chaliyar. Forest department officials, Navy and Coast Guard personnel, and local guides are set to join the search for bodies on August 2. 

The teams will scour the banks on foot. The Chaliyar follows a winding course, and local people found scores of bodies washed up on the shores where the river bends.