Kerala landslide: Fog, collapse of bridge hamper rescue efforts
It is the destruction of this bridge which, officials said, has completely cut off Mundakkai, and made any escape or entry into the region difficult.
Incessant rain, dense fog and the collapse of a key bridge over the Iruvazhinji river in spate are among the grave challenges facing rescue and relief workers, desperately trying to reach people trapped after multiple landslides in Chooralmala and Mundakkai areas of Kerala’s Wayanad district left over 120 people dead and several injured. Multiple agencies, including the Kerala fire and rescue services, civil defence, NDRF, local and emergency response teams, and personnel of the armed forces, were pressed into service to mitigate the situation.
Early on Tuesday, C Arunamala, block panchayat member from Chooralmala, told HT over the phone: “We are at the affected area here in Chooralmala, but we have been unable to advance towards Mundakkai. The rain is heavy and it is hampering our movement. There is dense fog which is affecting visibility, and third and most important, the bridge connecting Chooralmala with Mundakkai was completely washed away in the landslide.”
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It is the destruction of this bridge which, officials said, has completely cut off Mundakkai, and made any escape or entry into the region difficult. “The Iruvazhinji river is overflowing and it’s quite dangerous to cross it. Without the bridge, it is difficult to access the affected areas in Mundakkai.”
Arunamala said that while the region has seen landslides before, notably in 2019 in Meppadi, the scale of Tuesday’s disaster is unprecedented. “A lot of homes have been washed away and a portion of the Chooralmala school, which was operating as a relief camp since Monday, has also been washed away,” he said.
With time of the essence, multiple relief teams have been sent to the spot, with two ministers of the Kerala government stationed there by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The army is also involved, with a defence spokesperson saying that a team of 43 personnel, led by the Second-in-Command from the 122 Infantry Battalion (TA) MADRAS, has been mobilised. Besides, the army’s engineering group was also sent to Wayanad.
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Two Indian Air Force helicopters departed from Sulur in Tamil Nadu, and 67 Defence Security Corps (DSC) personnel, led by six officers, left from Kannur in two KSRTC buses with an ambulance and two truck loads of equipment, district officials said. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief K Sudhakaran asked the state administration to ensure all necessary aid, including medicine, food, clothing to those affected and also take steps to provide financial aid to the affected families.
NDRF personnel working on difficult rescue operations said the primary challenge was to reach villages such as Vellarmalla on the other side of the river. While rescuers have managed to build a ropeway above the swirling water and used stretchers tied to rods to ferry the critically injured, there are over 200 people still stranded at this particular location, officials said. “The water current is strong, so it is not possible to cross the river. On priority, our teams found 17 critically injured from Vellarmalla and brought them to the other side” said Akhilesh Kumar, commandant of the NDRF 4 battalion.
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Simultaneously, the district administration along with the 75 NDRF personnel at the spot are grappling with two immediate problems – finding a sustainable path to these affected villages, and finding ways to send food to those that can’t be brought out immediately.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin spoke to Vijayan and announced the immediate dispatch of a team to the neighbouring state. He directed the release of ₹5 crore as relief from Tamil Nadu.
With inputs from Prawesh Lama
