Chooralmala estate lanes worst-hit by twin landslides in Wayanad

While rescue operations are on in full swing, it remains unclear how many tea-estate workers and family members died in the disaster.

Praveen Kumar, who lost his brother in the landslide, sits outside the relief camp with his pet dog at Meppadi Photo | A Sanesh

WAYANAD: Tea-plantation workers who lived in the estate lanes of Chooralmala and Mundakkai have been the worst-affected in the twin landslides that devastated the region early in Tuesday.

While rescue operations are on in full swing, it remains unclear how many tea-estate workers and family members died in the disaster.

Most of the survivors are currently at relief camps set up at the St Joseph’s UP School and the Government HSS in Meppadi. Mohanraj, a forest department official from Tamil Nadu, was among the crowd at the relief camps, in search of his sister and her relatives who were living in an estate lane. He said as many as eight members of his family are missing and one confirmed dead, a 19-year-old.

“We are waiting to check the bodies recovered from river Chaliyar near Nilambur. We checked at all the relief camps, but eight of them are not there. They lived at an estate lane in Chooralmala. The husbands of my two sisters worked in the estate. The deceased is my sister’s daughter. The missing include two children,” Mohanraj said.

A resident of an estate lane in Chooralmala, Praveen Kumar was seen waiting anxiously outside the relief camp with his golden-coloured Pomeranian dog. His brother Prajesh and neighbour Chandu died while engaged in rescue work after the first landslide at Chooralmala.

“After the first landslide around 1.30am, Prajesh and Chandu were busy evacuating people from the estate. Then the second landslide happened, after which both went missing. Prajesh’s body was recovered by the rescue personnel but Chandu remains missing. Prajesh saved everyone including our pet dog but couldn’t save himself,” said Praveen, with tears in his eyes.

Vijay Kumar, a survivor of the landslide at Chooralmala, said estate workers living in the lanes were worried by the torrential rain over the past three days. But they failed to anticipate the possibility of a landslide.

“Usually, landslides including the one at Puthumala in 2019 were in the month of August. So, a majority of workers decided to wait for a few more days before moving to safer places. But this time, the landslide occurred in July itself. The impact of the second landslide was more severe. Almost all estate lanes have been fully damaged in the landslides,” Vijay Kumar said.