Wayanad landslide: Search for last missing worker to resume on July 12 with 70-member team

Wayanad (Kerala), Jul 11 (PTI) Search operations on Saturday, the fifth day since the July 7 landslide at the tunnel project site in Kalladi, failed to locate the remaining missing person, a Himachal Pradesh native, and will continue on July 12, district administration officials said. The landslide, which occurred on July 7 at the site of the Anakkampoyil–Meppadi tunnel project intended to connect Wayanad and Kozhikode districts, claimed seven lives, with one person still missing. Vikram Rana, a construction manager from Himachal Pradesh, is the one who remains to be found. The officials said a 50-member team comprising members of the National Disaster Response Force, the Special Operations Group of the police, and the fire brigade searched a six-kilometre stretch of the nearby Meenakshi river but could not find anything. They said cadaver dogs and heavy mud-excavating machinery were used to search for Rana in Zones 2 and 4 of the landslide site, but nothing was found. The search will continue on Sunday, July 12, with a 70-member team comprising NDRF, fire brigade, police Special Operations Group and Civil Defence members, the officials said. In view of the search operations, traffic restrictions will be in place from 8 am to noon on the Meppadi–Chooralmala road on Sunday, they added. PTI HMP SSK