Wayanad landslides LIVE | Clearly a national disaster, let's see what govt does: Rahul

Kerala police have launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district.

The State Police Media Centre (SPMC) on Thursday said that the Wayanad Cybercrime police has registered a case under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Disaster Management Act and launched a probe into the alleged spreading of a campaign with the intention of obstructing relief efforts.

The SPMC, in its statement, further said that the fake campaign was circulated on social media platform X from a handle called “Koyikodans 2.0”.

The post was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM’s appeal for disaster relief, it said.

The police warned of strict legal action under the law against those who edit, produce and disseminate fake posts in such a way so as to spread misconceptions.

For this, the cyber police have intensified monitoring of social media.

Vijayan had called upon everyone to contribute to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund to help those affected by the landslides.

An all-party meeting, chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, will be held in Wayanad on Thursday as search and rescue operations by various agencies and armed forces continue in the landslides-hit areas.

State ministers camping in the district, MLAs from Wayanad, and political party leaders will participate in the meeting, the district administration said.

Besides the all-party meet, Congress leader and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are expected to visit the relief camps set up in the landslides-hit areas of the district, according to a statement issued by the party.

Several people remain missing in landslide-hit Wayanad, where rescue operators are contending with adverse conditions, including muddy soil, as they search through destroyed homes and buildings.

According to the government’s official estimate on Wednesday evening, around 200 people are missing, though official sources indicate that the actual number may be much higher.

Equipment like excavators is required to be transported to the site to ensure proper search operations in the worst-affected areas, such as Mundakkai.

CM Pinarayai Vijayan has called upon everyone to contribute to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) to help those affected by the landslides.

He said Lulu Group Chairman MA Yusuff Ali, leading industrialist Ravi Pillai, Kalyan Jewellers owner Kalyana Raman, KSFE and the Adani Group have announced financial assistance to the tune of Rs 5 crore each.

"The Rs 5 crore assistance announced by Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin yesterday was handed over to us today," the CM said.

Rescue teams comprising the Army, Navy and NDRF are collectively looking for survivors by unearthing the debris and breaking into the remains of houses destroyed or covered with mud in the landslides.

According to a Defence statement, army units deployed in the area rescued around 1,000 people from the affected areas until Tuesday night.

Additionally, the Air Force is carrying out aerial reconnaissance of the affected areas to coordinate search and rescue operations and is using helicopters to airlift people stranded in various places in the landslide affected areas.

In Mundakkai, which was cut off from the rest of the district, makeshift bridges and pulleys were erected over gushing rivers to transport people stranded there to safety and shift bodies recovered from destroyed homes to ambulances.

As the majority of houses were flattened, rescuers broke open the roofs using hammers and pickaxes, as heavy machinery could not be brought there due to lack of proper roads or bridges, to enter the collapsed structures and search for any people trapped inside.

Rescue agencies resumed their operations early in the morning to trace people suspected to be trapped following the landslides triggered by heavy rains.

Efforts were on to bring materials to build a 190-foot-long Bailey bridge to connect the worst-affected areas of Mundakkai and Chooralmala and intensify rescue operations there.

The bridge will be constructed by Thursday.

Besides that, sniffer dogs, trained by the army to detect people buried under soil, are also being brought there, he further said, adding that an intelligent buried object detection system will also be used for that purpose.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that over 1,500 people were saved from the landslide-hit areas of Wayanad district.

In the first phase, 206 people from 68 families in the nearby areas of the disaster were shifted to three camps. “This includes 75 men, 88 women, and 43 children,” the chief minister said.

Following the landslide, 1,386 people who were stranded and those who were trapped in their homes were rescued as a result of the ongoing rescue mission.

“This includes 528 men, 559 women, and 299 children who were shifted to seven camps. Two hundred and one people were rescued and taken to the hospital, of whom 90 are currently undergoing treatment,” he said.

Vijayan said that in Wayanad district, there are currently 8,017 people in 82 relief camps. This includes 19 pregnant women.

“There are eight camps in Meppadi, where 1,486 people from 421 families are currently staying,” he said.

He said operations are underway to find bodies floating down the river to the adjoining Malappuram district.

“A team of 1,167 personnel has been deployed for the rescue operation. This includes 645 firefighters led by 10 station officers, 94 NDRF personnel, 167 District Sainik Welfare Centre personnel, 153 personnel from the Madras Engineer Group, and Coast Guard personnel who arrived on Tuesday,” Vijayan said.