Actor Mohanlal visits landslide-hit Mundakkai village in Wayanad

WAYANAD: Actor Mohanlal visited the landslide-hit Mundakkai village in Kerala’s Wayanad on Saturday. Mohanlal, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Territorial Army was pictured dressed in Army uniform as he visited the affected sites this morning.

The actor met with the Army personnel carrying out the rescue operations on site. The actor was conferred the honourary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Territorial Army in 2009.

In a post on X, Mohanlal earlier lauded the rescue personnel involved in the search operations in Wayanad and also thanked the efforts of the 122 Infantry Battalion, TA Madras, who have been at the forefront of the relief mission. The actor also contributed Rs 25 lakh to the CM’s Distress Relief Fund.

The death toll in the massive landslides that occurred on July 30 in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad stands at 308 as of Friday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said. As per the latest update, 215 bodies and 143 body parts were recovered including 98 males, 87 females and 30 children. The post-mortem procedures were completed on 212 bodies and 140 body parts and 148 bodies were identified by relatives so far.

According to the hospital data, 82 people are undergoing treatment in various hospitals in Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.A total of 504 people were brought to hospitals from the disaster area. So far, 205 people have been discharged.

Earlier, three unidentified bodies were cremated at Kalpetta public crematorium. The state government has specially prepared guidelines for cremation given the disaster situation.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Department Minister OR Kelu, Kalpetta MLA T Siddique, District Collector D R Meghasree, Special Officers Sambasiva Rao, Sreedhanya Suresh, former MLA CK Sasheendran, Sub Collector Misal Sagar Bharat and representatives of the people paid their last respects.

Satish, a resident from the landslide-hit area, “I am scared. I lost many of my friends. I’m sad. This is the first time such a big tragedy has hit”. Another resident said that his mother’s elder sister, her son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren were all washed way along with their house. “The bodies of the mother’s elder sister and her grandchildren were recovered but her son and daughter-in-law are still missing. The search operation is still under way”, he added.

Ravindran, another resident said that panchayat officials had warned the residents to evacuate, but only half of the people moved out and the rest stayed back. “If that half population hadn’t moved, the death toll would have been even higher. So many of my friends and relatives are missing. I don’t feel like going and looking at the spot as I feel very bad”, he added.

The relief teams began the search operations along with the dog squad at 7 am today. The relief columns of the Indian Army are also present at the spot and all activities are coordinated by North Kerala IGP. The Army is constructing a bridge in the Punchirimattom region to make way for excavators for the search and rescue operation.

Air Marshal B Manikantan, AOC-in-C, and Brigadier Salil, Station Commander, Pangode Military Station conducted an aerial survey on Saturday of affected regions to assess the situation. On the Kerala government’s request, one Xaver Radar (from Northern Command) and Four Reeco Radars (from Tiranga Mountain Rescue Org, Delhi) along with operators will be airlifted from Delhi today in an IAF aircraft, as per PRO Defence Kochi.

On Friday Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that six lives were saved from a remote tribal settlement after a tireless 8-hour operation by our courageous forest officials in landslide-hit Wayanad. The Chief Minister said that the heroism of the rescue teams reminds us that Kerala’s resilience shines brightest in the darkest times. (ANI)