Rescue teams on August 3 deployed advanced technical gadgets and dogs to search for possible survivors or recover bodies buried under the debris as the search operation entered its fifth day.
The operation is still looking for survivors after deadly landslides that struck the hilly district claimed 350 lives. According to the estimates nearly 250 are still missing sparking fears that the toll is expected to rise.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that search and rescue operations in Wayanad are in their final stages. There is difficulty in identifying the dead bodies and parts recovered from the Chaliyar river, said the CM.
K-9 squads and the Tamil Nadu Medical Team are also participating, the Vijayan said, adding that advanced equipment like Human Rescue Radar and drone-based radar are also being used.
Officials said that 341 autopsies have been completed so far and 148 bodies have been identified and handed over to their kin so far. Sixty-seven bodies are yet to be identified, and the panchayats will do the last rites.
The search efforts were bolstered by the completion of a 190-foot-long Bailey bridge by the Army, facilitating the movement of heavy machinery and ambulances.
Using large gear and advanced equipment, more than 1,300 rescuers are sifting through damaged buildings and beneath the rubble in search of survivors. Along with volunteers, private firms specialising in search and rescue have joined forces with the Army, police, and emergency services units to lead these missions.
Huge logs and boulders that were carried by landslides and dumped in the residential neighbourhoods of Mundakkai and Chooralmala, however, are making it extremely difficult for rescue workers to find persons who are thought to be buried beneath the debris.
Meanwhile, the government on August 3 mandated public sector insurance companies, including Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, and United India Insurance to extend all possible support to the victims of the calamity so that the insurance claims can be expeditiously processed and paid.