Death toll in Rajamala landslide reaches 22

Five more bodies have been recovered from the landslide spot in Rajamala in Kerala where a massive landslide took place during the wee hours on Friday taking the death toll to 22.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex-gratia of 2 lakh rupees each from PMNRF to the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to a landslide in Rajamalai, Idukki.

He said in a tweet that 50 thousand rupees each would be given to those injured due to the landslide.

Meanwhile, rescue and search operations restarted this morning for the missing persons, as many are feared to be buried under soil. At least 43 persons are still missing and efforts are on to retrieve their bodies with the help of NDRF teams. The inquest of 17 persons have been completed and postmortem is underway.

However adverse weather was hampering the relief operations with heavy rain continued to lash across the State creating widespread damage. Major rivers are overflowing and low lying regions are flooded in northern and Central Kerala. Met dept predicts very heavy rain in the state during coming days.