Wayanad landslide deaths rise to 6 as three more bodies recovered
The death toll from the recent landslide in Kerala's Wayanad rose to six on Thursday as three more bodies were recovered from the site of
The death toll from the recent landslide in Kerala's Wayanad rose to six on Thursday as three more bodies were recovered from the site of the tragedy. According to Kerala ministers AP Anil Kumar and T Siddique, one of the bodies was recovered from zone 1 of the search area in the morning and the other from inside the river flowing through the disaster site. Read Full Story The third body had not been recovered by the time the ministers provided the aforementioned information to the media. "Searches will be carried out in zone 1 and 2 of the area.
Will be focusing search operations near the river also," Anil Kumar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. With the recovery of the three bodies, two people now remain missing. The landslide occurred on Tuesday, July 7, at the site of the Anakkompoyil-Meppadi tunnel project for connecting Wayanad and Kozhikode districts. KERALA CM ON RESCUE EFFORTS On Wednesday, Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan said the search for the missing persons would be prioritised by the authorities. Moreover, he said that of the 10 people injured in the incident, three were discharged, four were still hospitalised but stable and three others were in the ICU of whom two were critical.
The CM also held a review meeting in connection with the search operations, and it was attended by Siddique and Anil Kumar, and Wayanad's Congress MP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Later, he said there will be a police investigation into the incident to ascertain if there were any lapses or negligence on the part of the contractors. "I will not blame anyone now. I will wait for the report of the committees and the outcome of the police investigation," he said. However, at the same time, he told the reporters that the contractors did not abide by the directions of the Public Works Department and the District Collector to remove the mud accumulated at the site.
Prior to that, on Tuesday, Siddique and his fellow minister Ramesh Chennithala had said the fatal incident was not a natural landslide but a "man-made" one caused by the "unscientific dumping" of excavated earth. Ends (With inputs from PTI)
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