Landslides swept through tea estates and villages in southern India's Kerala on Tuesday, killing at least 93 people, local media reported, after heavy rain collapsed hillsides and triggered torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders.
The hillsides gave way after midnight following torrential rainfall on Monday in the Wayanad district of Kerala, a state renowned as one of India's most popular tourist destinations. Most of the victims were tea estate workers and their families who were asleep in makeshift shelters.
Television pictures 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.
At least 93 people were killed in the landslides, and 100 families were stranded after the landslides, local Asianet TV reported. Nearly 350 families lived in the affected region, mostly given over to tea and cardamom estates, and 250 people had been rescued so far, state officials said.
State Health Minister Veena George said that over 70 people were injured and the Indian Express reported that many people are likely to have been washed away in the Chaliyar river.
"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.
Local news channel Asianet TV said as many as 41 people died after the landslides caused havoc in the region.
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.
