Wayanad: The construction of a bridge crucial to rescue operations in Mundakkai, the village worst affected by a series of deadly landslides in the hilly regions of Wayanad, Kerala, with the death toll touching 276 according to official figures, was completed and Thursday and traffic had started moving across it.
In the state’s worst tragedy since 2018, the northern Kerala district was hit by heavy rain, triggering a series of landslides in the early hours of Tuesday in Chooralmala village that sent strong currents of water and debris downhill, decimating the village of Mundakkai and washing away a Bailey bridge over a canal between the two villages, which had cut off the hamlet from the rest of the district and hampered rescue operations.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), air force, state police, and hundreds of personnel from the fire force have been deployed to carry out rescue and relief operations, with efforts hindered by mud, heavy floodwaters and debris.
The construction of the bridge was completed, as expected on Thursday, and it was opened to rescue operations, according to local volunteers.
A team from the Madras Engineering Group of the Army started the construction of the bridge Wednesday morning. State police, two Army majors, and five junior commissioners had been overseeing the work on it. 120 soldiers and several NDRF personnel had also been in Chooralmala since Wednesday to help with the construction of the bridge.
Several components of the 170-metre bridge were airlifted to Kozhikode from Delhi. The Bailey bridge is a kind of portable bridge designed by the British during World War 2.
Hundreds still missing in Mundakkai
The destruction of the bridge in the Wayanad landslides had affected rescue operations in Mundakkai, nearly 3km from Chooralmala, where rescue teams and hundreds of volunteers are still searching for the bodies of the victims, two days after the deadly landslides.
“The only access for the residents of Mundakkai was the bridge that washed away. Yesterday, people were rescued using the ropeway,” said Subair, a volunteer with the Ideal Relief Wing.
Several excavators had been deployed to search through the debris of the landslides, while volunteers from many local organisations and NGOs were distributing food and water.
“It will take a long time to completely recover the bodies. The destruction from the landslides was heavy,” said Ansar, a fire rescue official, who has been at the spot since Wednesday morning. As he spoke to ThePrint, two more bodies were recovered from the debris near him.
Khalid, a resident of the nearby Meppadi region, said the area had been witnessing heavy rain for at least 10 days before the landslides. “There were rain alerts too and officials from the panchayat had asked the residents to leave,” he said.
The 48-year-old said he and three others from Meppadi rushed to Mundakkai following the first landslide to rescue the residents.
“The second blast was heavy. We shifted many people from the village by that time to safer houses,” he said.
His house was destroyed in the 2019 Puthumala landslide, which claimed 19 lives, including his neighbours, and his family was moved to a house built by NGOs in Meppadi.
Bodies are still being retrieved, according to Riyas, a volunteer at the spot. Besides 300 residences, Mundakkai, Khalid said, was also home to hundreds of migrant plantation workers who lived and worked at the tea estates in the area. But no one knows exactly how many migrant workers, from different regions of India, including Assam, were staying in the region.
NDRF officials said over 300 bodies have been recovered from the spot so far, while official confirmation on the death toll has yet to come.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also read: Wayanad landslides: Army, Navy and Air Force intensify ops, over 1,000 rescued