Wayanad debris slip: Death toll rises to eight as lone project manager’s body recovered

Emergency workers on Sunday (July 12, 2026) recovered the body of the lone missing person following a devastating debris slip at a tunnel construction site at Kalladi in Wayanad’s Meppadi, taking the death toll in the disaster to eight.

The deceased was identified as Bikram Singh Rana, a project manager from Himachal Pradesh.

Rana’s body was recovered on the sixth day of the search during extensive operations in Zone II. It was found in an area where iron debris had accumulated following the disaster.

Officials said that with the recovery of his body, all missing people had now been accounted for after the massive debris slip struck near the entrance to the under-construction Wayanad twin-tunnel road project on July 7.

After his relatives identified the body, it was shifted to the Vythiri Taluk Hospital for postmortem examination.

Following the procedure, it will be shifted to the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital for embalming before being repatriated to his native place.