THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (Reuters) – Landslides in southern India killed at least 93 people on Tuesday, the office of Kerala state revenue minister K. Rajan told reporters.
Rajan’s office added that another 250 people had been injured in the landslides, which struck Wayanad district early Tuesday morning.
Images published by the National Disaster Response Force show rescue crews trudging through mud to search for survivors and carry bodies on stretchers out of the area.
Homes were caked with brown sludge as the force of the landslide’s impact scattered cars, corrugated iron and other debris around the disaster site.
India’s army said it had deployed more than 200 soldiers to the area to assist state security forces and fire crews in search and rescue efforts.
“Hundreds of people are suspected to have been trapped,” it said in a statement.
"The situation is serious. The government has pressed all agencies into rescue," state Forest Minister A K Saseendran told Reuters after the landslides in the Wayanad district of the state. More rain was predicted through the day.
The army was roped in to build a temporary bridge after a bridge in the district that linked the affected area, mostly tea and cardamom estates, to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed, Saseendran added.
Television visuals showed relief personnel making their way through rocks and uprooted trees as muddy water gushed through, with many houses destroyed.
One man was seen struggling to free himself after being stuck in chest-high mud for hours, as rescue workers were not able to reach him despite multiple efforts.
Rashid Padikkalparamban, a resident involved in the relief efforts, said there were at least three landslides in the area starting around midnight, which washed away the bridge connecting the affected area, the Mundakkai estates, to Chooralmala.
"Many people who were working in the estates and staying in makeshift tents inside are feared trapped or missing," he said.
Kerala is prone to heavy rain and flooding, with nearly 400 people killed in one of the worst floods in 2018.
Relief efforts were ongoing on Tuesday, and two helicopters of the Indian Air Force have been mobilised, the Kerala chief minister's office said in a statement.
Rescue operations were hampered as the area was not reachable by road because of the bridge collapse, Mohsen Shahedi, a senior National Disaster Response Force officer told Reuters.
Rahul Gandhi, who won the recently-contested general election from Wayanad, but resigned as he was also elected from his family bastion in the north, said he had spoken to the state chief minister to ensure coordination with all agencies.