Massive search ops underway at Mundakkai, number of missing persons yet to be ascertained: Minister

Wayanad: As a massive search operation is underway at Mundakkai region in landslide-hit Wayanad with a team of over 3,000 rescue workers, the authorities and locals are still grappling to determine the exact number of people missing.

According to the state government, the toll has gone up to 173 while an estimated number of 191 people are missing, though official sources indicate that the actual number may be much higher.

The rescue operators are contending with adverse conditions, including muddy soil and rain, as they search through destroyed homes and buildings.

State Revenue Minister K Rajan, who is in the disaster-struck region, coordinating the rescue efforts, told the media that the authorities are yet to finalise the number of missing people.

“Initially, we used the voter list to identify the missing persons. But since it does not contain the details of the children, we are now relying on ration cards and other details. We are trying to identify the missing people by checking the ration card details and with the help of Asha workers and the anganwadi workers,” Rajan said.

He said the rescue mission at Mundakkai is a massive one, as usually an incident like this will be limited to one or two kilometres, but in this case, the disaster has struck a massive area.

“The bodies were recovered from the Chaliyar river at Pothukal (in Malappuram district). That shows the huge impact of this incident,” Rajan said.

On Wednesday, the DYFI workers scouted the nearby forest areas and recovered over 30 dead bodies.

The Pothukal area of Chaliyar River is around eight kilometres from Mundakkai.

Even as the rescue operations are progressing, there are no exact details of the number of workers from the nearby tea estate, which was also an affected area.

Sources from Mundakkai said there were migrant workers staying at the quarters of the tea estate, which was washed away.

“We are not sure whether they had shifted to some safer place or they were hit by the landslide,” a local told the media.

Information regarding the migrant workers is not available, as the tea estate manager is also missing, the residents said.

According to Revenue minister, currently over 1,600 rescue workers, including the Army, Navy, NDRF, the police, Fire and Rescue among other forces are at the landslide-hit region.

“Apart from them, there is an equal number of locals and other rescue workers who are familiar with the locality helping the operations. A total of over 3,000 people are working tirelessly to find the missing persons,” Rajan said.

Cadaver dogs are being used by rescuers to locate with dead bodies.

On Thursday morning, rescue workers managed to reach Chooralmala where a trail of destruction could be seen with massive boulders scattered everywhere and numerous houses buried or completely washed away.

Villagers said that the whole landscape has changed.

Meanwhile, the construction of the bailey bridge to connect the landslide-hit areas is also going on.

Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains hit Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha hamlets in the early hours of Tuesday, killing several people, including women and children.