Wayanad Landslides: Search Operations Intensify with Helicopter Team Focusing on Chaliyar River Basin

A week after devastating landslides claimed hundreds of lives in a north Kerala district, search operations will intensify on Tuesday. Authorities will focus on the Chaliyar river basin, deploying a specialized team equipped with helicopters to scan the waterbody for bodies or remains, according to the district administration.

District Collector Meghashree D R told reporters that the search operations will be concentrated on the river near the school, village and downstream areas. "Intensive search operations are going on," she said.

ADGP M R Ajithkumar reported that some local volunteers had become stranded in inaccessible areas along the Chaliyar river over the past few days and required rescue.

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"To address this issue, we have opted to deploy two specialized teams—one from the police SOG and the other from the army commandos—who will be airlifted into these areas. Any bodies they discover will also be airlifted out," Ajithkumar stated.

He also said that the search operations were entering the last stages and areas that remain to be searched on land are places where the mud is around 50 meters deep. "It is not possible to send people and heavy machinery there," the officer said.