WAYANAD, Kerala — The Indian government is leaving no stone unturned to trace people still missing following the massive landslide in southern Kerala state in the last days of July, while local priests decried disastrous hygienic crisis in the landslide areas. “We will continue with the search mission,” Kerala local administration minister M. B. Rajesh told UCA News on Aug. 4, five days after the landslide washed away three villages in the hilly Wayanad district. Some 200 people are reportedly missing after the disaster hit the villages in the Western Ghats area in the morning hours of July 30, when most people slept. Rajesh took stock of the situation after some 3,000 rescue workers had ended their day’s search for missing persons from places that had vanished without a trace. The state government pegged the death toll at 222 but media reports of as many as 350 casualties. (OSV News)
