THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will visit Pettimudi in Rajamala, where a landslide claimed 55 lives, on Thursday. The duo will reach Munnar Anachal by helicopter and from there go to Pettimudi by road.
The Chief Minister had been criticised for visiting the Karipur air crash site, but not going to Munnar. Following this, the CM explained that he couldn't go to Munnar due to adverse weather conditions.
Rescue operations at Rajamala are still going on. Two more bodies were recovered on Wednesday taking the total death toll to 55. As many as 15 persons are still missing.
On Tuesday, the rescue had personnel recovered some bodies from the Pettimudi stream nearby that flows near the workers' quarters. The bodies were found around four km from the quarters.
The stream flows into the Muthirapuzha river which is a tributary of the Periyar. Rescue workers said that as the debris flow was heavy, the water could have swept away some of the victims into the river.
A 52-member NDRF and fire and rescue teams are leading the search and rescue efforts along with police, forest, revenue, health and panchayat officials and NGO activists.