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Indian authorities have launched a rescue operation in the southern Indian state of Kerala after major landslides in the northeastern district of Wayanad killed at least 93 people and injured 128 others.
At least two landslides hit Wayanad in the early hours of Tuesday morning, impacting about one thousand people, A K Saseendran, the state’s minister for forest and wildlife said.
“We don’t know if people have been washed away in the river but we are doing our best to rescue people. We are leaving no stone unturned,” Saseendran said.
The weather has improved slightly allowing rescue efforts to speed up, Saseendran said, adding that a temporary bridge has been constructed to facilitate evacuations, with the army, navy and air force all participating in the emergency response.
Earlier, emergency responders at the site of the landslides – which was covered in mud and toppled trees – carried away bodies in tarps and helped residents move to safety as rain poured down.
The army was dispatched to help rescue 250 people who were stranded in a village after a bridge collapsed, a commissioner for the state’s disaster management authority said. The national and state disaster rescue forces and the Kerala fire services are also involved in rescue operations, said PM Manoj, Press Secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister.
At least 250 people have been rescued so far, a local minister told Press Trust of India.
Heavy rain had made conditions treacherous for rescuers as they tried to determine the full scope of the disaster, while trees and debris obscured access to roads.
Heavy flooding and mudslides have killed hundreds, displaced millions and wrecked infrastructure across South Asia in recent months. While floods are common in the region during monsoon season, scientists say the climate crisis has exacerbated extreme weather events and made them more deadly.
Lewis Musonye
