TIRUVANNAMALAI: Five bodies, trapped in a house buried under mud and rocks triggered by a landslip due to the torrential rain on late Monday, were recovered late on Monday at Annamalaiyar Hill in Tiruvannamalai district following the hectic search operation since Monday early morning. Efforts are on to rescue two others who are trapped, sources said.
The landslide buried two adjacent houses in VOC Nagar. Bodies of R Meena (25), her son Gowtham (9), S Ramya (13), M Vinothini (14) and M Maha (10) have been identified. N Rajkumar (28) husband of Meena, and his daughter Iniya (7) are still missing.
According to residents, Rajkumar, Meena, and other parents of the locality are all employed at a brick kiln at Thandarampet, 20km away. Most families in the area are relatives, and when the parents go to work at the kiln, they take care of each other's children. Some of them stay and work at the brick kiln all week long and come home to their families on weekends, they added.
Vinothini, Maha and their 16-year-old brother Surya were residing with their grandmother Rani (65) in the house located next to Rajkumar's place. Rani had stepped out to buy groceries when Surya, sensing something amiss, sounded alarm, asking his siblings to exit the house with him. "Instead, they ran into Rajkumar's house," Surya told The New Indian Express. "When they tried to come out, the door got jammed and trees started falling on the house," he added.
Ramya, daughter of A Saravanan (30) and Meenakshi had already been playing with Rajkumar's children in their house at the time of the incident. Meenakshi, who was nearby, said that she attempted to save her daughter but couldn’t.
Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who visited the spot on Monday night, said the CM has extended his deep condolences to the bereaved families and has ordered an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the victims’ families.
On Monday evening, Public Works Minister E V Velu visited the site. “Experts from Yercaud and IIT Madras have been summoned to help with the rescue operation,” he said.
A rescue team comprising of over 170 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services and local authorities had launched a rescue operation early on Monday.
Rescue officer A Suvikkain Raj said, “Large stones obstructed our scanning equipment, complicating the process. Initially, manual tools like crowbars and pickaxes were used. An earthmover was later deployed to expedite the operation.”
The team has been using ‘pancake method’ to locate the trapped individuals. The method is employed in situations where buildings or structures have collapsed in layers, similar to a stack of pancakes. This usually happens during earthquakes or landslides, which cause the floors of a building to collapse on top of each other.
“The heavy debris, consisting of mud, soil and stones, blocking the house made it difficult to communicate with or provide medical aid to those trapped,” an official said.
Meanwhile, three more minor landslips occurred in Annamalaiyar Hill on Monday afternoon. However, no further casualties or damages have been reported.
Tiruvannamalai Collector D Baskara Pandian, SP Dr M Sudhakar and other officials are closely monitoring the rescue operation.
