IDUKKI: The body of a man who went missing in a landslide at Puthukadi near Kundala in Munnar on Saturday was recovered on Sunday morning. The body of Rupesh, 40, of Muthappankavu in Kozhikode, was found under the debris 500m away from the Munnar-Vattavada road in Puthukadi, the police said.
The 11-member team from Kozhikode was heading back after visiting Vattavada when mud and debris, that rolled down from a hillside in heavy rain, fell on the van in which they were travelling. Assuming it to be a mud slip, the driver and passengers tried to push the vehicle past the debris. Soon, mud-filled water gushed down the hill.
Though the driver and other passengers managed to escape, Rupesh got trapped inside the van, which was swept away in the water. Apart from Puthukadi, a landslide was triggered at Echo Point on Saturday. Though the traffic along the Vattavada-Munnar route was restored on Sunday, there has been a ban on travel through the stretch following the landslide.