Wayanad landslides: Fire Force, NDRF, volunteers continue search operations

Search operations to continue in the areas affected by the Wayanad landslides that occurred on July 30, claiming 225 lives and displacing thousands of people. Fire Force, NDRF, volunteers along with the local people will continue the rescue and search operations.

Meanwhile, residents bid farewell to the Indian Army contingent including the Dog squad as they exit Wayanad after a stretched search, rescue and restoration operation.

IG North Zone, K Sethuraman said, "It is not a mass search operation...The affected people should feel confident that the search operation is being done adequately and that no more bodies can be found there...It is to build confidence among them...People representatives, NGOs, political party representatives all of them are welcome..."

The Kerala High Court has taken a suo moto cognisance of the Wayanad landslides. The division bench of justices Jayasankaran Nambiar and VM Shyamkumar directed the registry to take a suo moto case. The court also said that they should think about what can be done legally to control things like illegal mining and floods.

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit landslide-affected sites in Wayanad on August 10.

In a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, the Chief Minister said that the state has requested the central government to declare it as a national disaster and a severe calamity.

The Chief Minister said that the post-mortem procedures of 420 bodies have been conducted so far in Wayanad and added that the search operations will continue.

He further stated that officially, 225 deaths have been confirmed. The body parts of 195 individuals have been found in various locations. DNA samples of these body parts have been sent for testing. The search is still ongoing. Post-mortems have been conducted on 420 bodies, 178 bodies have been handed over to relatives, and 233 burials have taken place.