iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Tens of thousands lined the streets of capital Dili, waving Vatican-coloured flags and umbrellas while screaming as the 87-year-old was driven through the streets flanked by security
KT APPDOWNLOAD
India: Over 300 killed in Kerala landslides
Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that 195 bodies and 113 body parts have been recovered so far
Search operations continue after landslides hit Mundakkai village in Wayanad district in the southern state of Kerala, India. Photo: Reuters
Landslides swept through tea estates and villages in southern India's Kerala on Tuesday, killing at least 308 people while they slept as unexpected heavy rain collapsed hillsides and triggered torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Friday confirmed 308 deaths in the multiple landslides that hit Wayanad on July 30.
The rescue and relief operations are underway in Chooralmala and Mundakkai in the Meppadi region where the landslides wreaked havoc.
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.
Minister George said that 195 bodies and 113 body parts have been recovered so far.
The Indian Army earlier today handed over the 190-feet Bailey Bridge to the civil administration which was built over the Iruvanjippuzha river connecting the regions Chooralmala and Mundakkai, isolated by the landslides.
The personnel also held a meeting at Wayanad District Collector's office. The officials said that search operations by relief teams along with dog squads started at 7 am today. This includes 10 teams comprising 30 members each formed from Armed Forces personnel including Police.
The affected area has been divided into six zones based on accessibility and prospects of recovery of missing persons, namely Zone 1 -Punchirimattom region, Zone 2 - Mundekkai region, Zone 3 - School area, Zone 4 - Chooralmala town area, Zone 5 - Village area and Zone 6 - Downstream.
The rescue and relief operations coordinated by the Army, NDRF, SDRF and civil administration are underway at multiple locations, ensuring quick evacuation of stranded people, and provision of basic amenities and medical assistance.
Tuesday's landslides
The hillsides gave way after midnight following torrential rainfall on Monday in the Wayanad district of Kerala, a state known as one of India's most popular tourist destinations. Most of the victims were tea estate workers and their families who lived in small houses or makeshift shelters.
Television images showed rescue workers scrambling through uprooted trees and flattened tin structures as boulders lay strewn across the hillsides and muddy water gushed through. Rescuers were being pulled across a stream, carrying stretchers and other equipment to rescue people.
Tuesday's landslides are the worst disaster in the state since 2018 when heavy floods killed almost 400 people.
"There are still people who are trapped under the ground and those who have been swept away," Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters. "The rescue operation will continue with all possible strength and means."
More than 3,000 people had been moved out of the area and accommodated in 45 relief camps in the district, he said, adding that hundreds of personnel, including army soldiers, using drones and sniffer dogs were searching for survivors.
Vijayan, a survivor who gave only one name, said he woke up in the middle of the night to feel the ground shake and see electric poles fall.
"A couple of neighbours and I ran to nearby houses where we heard cries for help and took some of the injured to safety," he told Asianet.
"My father, mother, sister and her daughter were in the house and as I went towards them the next landslide hit with a roaring sound," he said. "I clung to a window bar as I saw my mother and sister disappear under the mud, I couldn't do anything."
'Unpredictable rain'
Army engineers were deployed to help build a replacement bridge after the one that linked the affected area to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed, the chief minister's office said in a statement.
"A small team has managed to cross the bridge across the river and reach (the site) but we will need to send many more to provide help and to start rescue operations," Kerala chief secretary V. Venu told reporters.
A military helicopter managed to land at Mundakkai, one of the worst hit areas where about 250 people were stranded on a hilltop and at a tourist resort without enough food and medicine. They could not be accessed by air earlier due to bad weather, officials said.
This was expected to speed up rescue efforts and the injured would be evacuated first, they said.
Although the area is a well known tourist destination, local residents were the most affected as all tourist excursions had been halted since Monday due to the rain.
Chief Minister Vijayan said that many people had been moved out of the area before the landslides due to the heavy rain and this had helped reduce the toll.
The region was forecast to get 204 millimetres (8 inches) of rainfall but ended up getting 572 millimetres (22.5 inches) over a period of 48 hours, he said, adding that in the wake of "climate change ... rainfall and other natural disasters are sometimes unpredictable".
More rains were forecast across the state for the next five days, he said, and urged people to take precautions.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who won a seat in Wayanad in the recent general election, but resigned as he was also elected in his family bastion in the north, said he had spoken to the state chief minister to ensure coordination with all agencies.
"The devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking," he said in a message on X. "I have urged the union government to extend all possible support."
In the wake of the landslide, the district level control room has been opened. Those affected may contact two helpline numbers, 8086010833 and 9656938689, for emergency health services, the health minister said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured all possible help from the Centre in the wake of the prevailing situation in the state, in a post on X.
Modi announced Rs200,000 ex-gratia for next of kin of the deceased. He also said that Rs50,000 would be given to the injured, according to a post on X by the Prime Minister's Office's handle.
(With inputs from Reuters, ANI)
ALSO READ:
More news from World
More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina's ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report
Some 1.5 million people were still without electricity on Monday and a major bridge across the swollen and fast-moving Red River collapsed in northern Phu Tho province
The attack also wounded at least 15 others
The protests started across Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore, before spreading to cities in several European countries and to the US
The patient has been isolated in a hospital and is in a stable condition, according to the health ministry
The 87-year-old pope is visiting Papua New Guinea as part of his ambitious 12-day, four-country tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest of his 11-year-old papacy
Authorities were searching for Joseph Couch, considered a person of interest in the shooting that temporarily closed I-75 in both directions