Wayanad landslide deaths rise to 7, search continues for one more missing worker

Rescue teams recovered one more body from the Wayanad landslide site on Friday, taking the death toll in the disaster to seven, while the search continued for one remaining missing worker, district officials said.

The body was recovered from near a river close to the landslide site. Officials said it is yet to be identified whether it is that of Rakesh Guchait, a surveyor from West Bengal, or Vikram Rana, a construction manager from Himachal Pradesh, the two workers who had remained missing until Friday.

With the latest recovery, only one person remains unaccounted for.

Search operations resumed early on Friday, the fourth day since the landslide, with teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Fire and Rescue Services and the police deploying heavy earthmoving machinery to clear mud and debris.

Six bodies had been recovered from the site by Thursday.

The landslide struck on July 7 at the Anakkompoyil–Meppadi tunnel project, which is being built to improve connectivity between Wayanad and Kozhikode districts.

Chief Minister V D Satheesan had earlier said that locating the missing workers remained the government's top priority.

He also said that of the 10 people injured in the incident, three had been discharged from hospital, four were stable and undergoing treatment, while three remained in intensive care, including two who were in a critical condition.

- Ends