KALPETTA: While the extensive search for the dead in the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslides was progressing, the forest department officials took up the task of searching the Soochipara waterfalls in the dense forest on Friday and found one body downstream.
Around 200 bodies were found from the Nilambur region in the adjacent Malappuram district, having floated down river Iruvazhinji through Soochipara before reaching the Chaliyar.
The search team followed the river in the deep forest and the waterfalls expecting to find more bodies stuck between the rocks or on the slopes.
“A team of 15 forest department officials carried out an extensive search near the waterfalls. We found a body downstream in an area that comes under the Badery forest section. The gender couldn’t be identified. We have decided on a more intense search downstream on Saturday,” said Wayanad South divisional forest officer Ajith Kumar.
Meanwhile, a team of forest officials from Nilambur searched upstream of the Chaliyar in the forest near the Wayanad-Malappuram border. On Thursday, forest officials had rescued a six-member family, including three children, from the Erattukundu tribal hamlet.
They were trapped in the forest in the valley of the Soochipara falls, not far from the disaster area.
At the end of the eight-hour long mission, the family was brought out safely. Former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, who visited the disaster spot on Friday, appreciated the forest officials for their efforts.
