Wayanad landslides: Odisha doctor missing, anxious wait for family and friends

A doctor from Odisha is among the hundreds of people missing in the aftermath of devastating landslides that hit Wayanad district of Kerala.

Now, his family and friends are anxiously waiting to know about his whereabouts.

More than 300 people have been killed in the landslides triggered by heavy rainfall on Tuesday (July 30). Search and rescue operations are still continuing.

Dr Swadheen Panda, a 33-year-old gynaecologist from Bhubaneswar went missing after a landslide hit Chooralmala village in Wayanad where he and his friends were staying as tourists.

According to Akanksha Mohanty, a friend of Dr Panda, he was accompanied by three others, including a couple, when the landslide struck their resort in a village in the hill district.

While Priyadarshini, one of the survivors, is out of danger, her husband Bishnuprasad's body has been recovered and sent back to Odisha.

Sweekruti Mahapatra, another person who was travelling with Dr Panda, is in critical condition and on a ventilator in a Wayanad hospital.

However, there has been no information about Dr Panda's whereabouts since the landslide.

A senior Kerala government official has assured that an intense search operation is underway to locate Dr Panda, a resident doctor with Odisha Medical Services.

Akanksha, talking to PTI from Chennai where she is working, expressed concern and anxiety about Dr Panda's safety, and said that her husband Suman Saurabh Mohanty is a childhood friend of the missing doctor.

Another friend, Suman Mohanty wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) page, "My best friend Dr. Swadheen Panda is missing after the Wayanad Landslide. I don't want to delve into any detail now but I seek all your help and support to help widen our word to reach all rescue teams and authorities for searching him."

(With agency inputs)