Six-month-old infant's dead body pulled out from Pettimudi landslide, death toll touches 43

Death and gloom surrounded the Pettimudi area, around 15 km from Rajamala in Munnar, as anxious and distressed survivors waited in the rain, hoping and praying that rescuers would find someone alive below the debris and slush. But hopes were dashed, as 17 more bodies were pulled out, taking the death toll from this devastating landslide to 43. The most heartbreaking sight was when rescuers pulled out the body of a six-month old infant. The infant's mother Gayatri and the rest of the family also died in the landslide.

Rekha Nambiar who is heading the NDRF team told the media that the focus was in shifting the large Rocks that had come tumbling down from the hill on to the small houses that the tea estate workers were living in. "We are using heavy machinery to remove the rocks first," she said.

The rescue operations resumed for the third consecutive day despite heavy rains. The rescue teams have sniffer dogs, thermal and acoustic sensors to find more dead bodies. However, according to NDRF, these sensors and even sniffer dogs can help in detecting survivors efficiently, but not to find dead bodies. "We need to physically search and find bodies. But we have only a few hours per day to do this as it becomes precarious to continue the search when it rains heavily or as it becomes evening," one rescuer told TNM.

The rescue operations on Saturday had retrieved nine dead bodies. More than 40 people are still missing. The rescue operations are a combined effort by teams of the police, the Fire Force and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan and Minister for Power, who is also an MLA from Idukki, is also monitoring the rescue operations.

“The post mortem of the dead bodies that were retrieved on Saturday were conducted on the day itself. The post mortem was conducted in Pettimudi itself. Vehicles are not allowed from Rajamala as more people and vehicles would affect the rescue operations,” District Panchayat President Kochu Thresia Paul told TNM.

Three dead bodies were found on Saturday from a canal in Anakkulam. 

People living in the nearby layams or line houses have been rehabilitated to relief camps. The landslide occurred in the wee hours of Thursday. The victims lived in layamsin the tea estate owned by the Kannan Devan Plantations Private Limited Company.

Sixteen relief camps have been opened in the district in which 354 members of 108 families have been rehabilitated.

Minister for Forest K Raju who visited Pettimudi on Sunday said that two staff of the Forest department died in the landslide while four are missing.

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, Shafi Parambil MLA, Dean Kuriakose MP and BJP State President K Surendran have also visited the spot. Kerala government on Friday declared Rs five lakh ex gratia for the famili3s of the deceased. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs two lakh each for the families of the deceased.