India landslides death toll passes 160 as rescuers search through mud, debris for many missing
- Torrential rains triggered torrents of mud and water that swept through tea estates and villages on Tuesday
Soldiers and rescuers worked through slush and rocks under steady rain, looking for survivors and searching for bodies in the hills of India’s Kerala state on Wednesday, a day after more than 165 people were killed in monsoon landslides.
Heavy rain in Kerala, one of India’s most attractive tourist destinations, led to the landslides early on Tuesday, sending torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders downhill and burying or sweeping people away to their deaths as they slept.
It was the worst disaster in the state since deadly floods in 2018. Experts said the area had been receiving heavy rain in the last two weeks which had softened the soil and that extremely heavy rainfall on Monday triggered the landslides.
The Indian Army said it rescued 1,000 people and has begun the process to construct an alternate bridge after the main bridge linking the worst affected area of Mundakkai to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed.