Search for missing people in Wayanad disaster to continue, death toll put at 224 so far

Search for missing bodies in Chooralmala-Mundakkai landslides continues, with 224 confirmed dead and 152 still missing.

The search for bodies of missing people in the Chooralmala-Mundakkai landslides continued on the eighth day on Tuesday. Although no new bodies were retrieved, the search teams retrieved seven body parts from different places.

The death toll was officially confirmed to be 224. While 148 bodies were recovered from Wayanad, 76 bodies have been retrieved from the Chaliyar in Nilambur so far. As many as 189 body parts too were recovered.

An official press statement said here on Tuesday that 152 people were missing. As many as 22 unidentified body parts were buried on Tuesday evening.

An elaborate search was conducted from Punchirimattam, where the landslide originated, down to Mundakkai and Chooralmala. The search extended further down to Soochippara waterfalls in Meppadi panchayat, and Pothukal and Nilambur in Malappuram district.

Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters airlifted two search teams to the remote Soochipara waterfalls and the densely forested Sunrise Valley. The choppers carried rescue teams comprising the Kerala Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG), Army men, and Forest department officials. Army’s high-altitude operations experts and SOG personnel with rappelling gear were among the search team.

Revenue Minister K. Rajan said the search teams scoured the dense undergrowth on the edges of the waterfall and at least two rapids downstream.

The operation entailed negotiating through the thick undergrowth and searching for bodies in the overhang of bushes, water reeds and gnarled tree roots dipping into the water. He said the search would continue on Wednesday.