Search operations entered the second day on Wednesday for five people missing after a landslide at a tunnel road construction site in Kerala's Wayanad district claimed three lives, while police registered a case of unnatural death and launched an investigation into the incident.
Wayanad Superintendent of Police Devamanohar said a case of unnatural death has been registered in connection with the landslide and an investigation is underway.
He said cadaver dogs, Fire and Rescue Services personnel and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed for the search operation. The affected area has been divided into four sectors, while downstream stretches of the river are also being searched.
Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan on Wednesday said that the government will carry out a detailed examination to know the reasons behind the tragedy.
The CM said that it would also be examined whether the directives issued by the central government while giving environment clearance to the tunnel project have been adhered to by the construction company.
The work on the tunnel, which will connect Wayanad with Kozhikode, will restart only after these two examinations are completed, Satheesan said at a press conference here.
He said that the decision to carry out the examinations was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by him in the morning after reviewing the reports related to the landslide.
The CM said that the Cabinet has also decided to take all legal and technical steps required to find out the reasons for the incident.
He said that there were reports that the landslide occurred above the construction site. "We will examine that too," he said.
The State government on Tuesday described the incident as a "man-made disaster", alleging that mud accumulated at the construction site had not been cleared despite directions from the district administration and Public Works Department Minister P K Basheer.
The general manager of the construction company rejected the allegation, claiming the landslide occurred well above the work site.
He said that it did not happen on the land given to the company for the construction and the mud accumulated there was not the reason for the disaster.
Meanwhile, an official associated with the rescue operation said that while the landslide originated above the construction site, the mud accumulated in the area increased the intensity of the mudslide. He also said that the ongoing rains are posing a hurdle in the search and rescue operations.
The three people confirmed dead in the incident have been identified as Chandraban, a machine operator from Madhya Pradesh; Bikash Kumar, a civil foreman from Bihar; and Anmol, a worker from Jharkhand. All three were migrant workers.
Seven injured persons were undergoing treatment at Meppadi WIMS Hospital as of Tuesday night.
(With inputs from PTI)
