KALPETTA: Owing to the confusion in identifying a body recovered on Sunday from the landslide-hit Puthumala, the samples of the deceased and relatives of the missing persons were sent to the Regional Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Kannur, on Monday for DNA tests. The rescue team also recovered a body from the depths of Soochipara falls, which are 1,500 feet below the Puthumala top, on Monday.
Sub Collector Umesh N S K said, “Earlier, the body recovered on Sunday was identified as that of Annayan, 54, but after a few people raised doubts about the identity, we had to shift the body to WIMS Hospital’s freezer and, later, the samples were sent for DNA tests.” In the search operations conducted on Monday, a woman’s body was recovered.
Of the six missing persons as of Sunday, only two were women -- Nabeesa and Aysha. The body recovered on Monday would be of one of them, but it could be identified only after the postmortem examination on Tuesday, he said. The body has been shifted to the Bathery mortuary after inquest.
As reported earlier, the ground-penetrating radar was brought to the Puthumala landslide spot and the Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute team headed by Dr Anand K Pandey and Dr Ratnagar Dhakate led the operations. Due to the marshy soil, boulders and tree logs strewn in the area, the search operations could not progress much. The operations using the radar will continue on Tuesday, he added.