- Mountain slopes collapsed after heavy rains lashed Kerala on Monday.
- Nearly 350 families lived in the affected region, state officials said.
- The Indian Meteorological Office predicts more rain throughout the day.
KOCHI: Landslides swept through tea plantations and villages in southern India's Kerala on Tuesday, killing at least 107 people, local media reported, after heavy rains collapsed hillsides and sent torrents of mud, water and rocks tumbling down.
Mountain slopes gave way after midnight following torrential rains on Monday in Wayanad district of Kerala, a state known as one of India's most popular tourist destinations. Most of the victims were tea plantation workers and their families, who were sleeping in makeshift shelters.
Television footage showed rescuers picking their way through uprooted trees and crushed tin structures, while rocks lay scattered on hillsides and muddy water gushed in. Rescuers crossed a stream, carrying stretchers and other equipment to rescue people.
A man was trapped chest-deep in mud for hours, television footage showed, unable to free himself until emergency crews finally reached him.
At least 93 people were killed in the landslides and 100 families were stranded in their aftermath, local television Asianet reported.
Nearly 350 families lived in the affected region, mostly engaged in tea and cardamom plantations, and 250 people have been rescued so far, state officials said.
Army engineers have been deployed to help build a replacement bridge after the one linking the affected area to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed, the prime minister's office said in a statement.
“A small team managed to cross the river bridge and reach (the spot), but we will need to send many more to provide relief and start rescue operations,” Kerala Chief Secretary V. Venu told reporters, adding that many people were still missing.
The weather office said there was extremely heavy rain in north and central Kerala on Tuesday, with more rain forecast during the day.
Although the area is a well-known tourist destination, local residents were the most affected as all tourist excursions were suspended since Monday due to rain.
Tuesday's landslides are the worst disaster in the state since 2018, when heavy flooding killed nearly 400 people.
“We fear that the gravity of this tragedy is much bigger. Various agencies are carrying out rescue operations on a war footing,” state cabinet minister MB Rajesh told news agency ANI.
Rashid Padikkalparamban, a resident involved in the relief efforts, said there were at least three landslides in the area that began around midnight, washing away the bridge connecting Mundakkai estates with Chooralmala.
“Many people who were working on the farms and staying in makeshift tents inside are feared to be trapped or missing,” he said.
Padikkalparamban, along with a hundred other people from his area, moved to the nearby Tree Valley resort. Asianet TV reported that he had received a phone call from someone at the resort whom rescue officials had not yet been able to contact.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who won a Wayanad seat in the recent general election but quit as he was also elected from his family stronghold in the north, said he had spoken to the state chief minister to ensure coordination with all agencies.
“The devastation taking place in Wayanad is heartbreaking,” he said in a message on X. “I have urged the Union government to extend all possible support.”
