Landslides Strike India Tea Estates, 63 Dead & 250 Rescued

AFP/APP

Bengaluru: Heavy monsoon rains triggered landslides in India and struck tea plantations, killing at least 63 people on Tuesday. At least 250 others have been rescued from the mud and debris, informed Kerala State Minister M.B. Rajesh.

The southern coastal state of Kerala has been battered by torrential downpours, with blocked roads into the disaster area in Wayanad district complicating relief efforts. District official D.R. Meghasree told reporters that another 125 people are in the hospital for treatment.

“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones, and prayers are with those injured,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on the social media platform X.

Wayanad is famed for its tea estates criss-crossing its hilly countryside, which rely on a large pool of casual labourers for planting and harvest. A district official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that several estates in the district were hit.

Images published by the National Disaster Response Force showed rescue crews trudging through mud to search for survivors and carry bodies on stretchers out of the area. Homes were caked with brown sludge as the force of the landslide’s impact scattered cars, corrugated iron, and other debris around the disaster site.

India’s army said it had deployed more than 200 soldiers to the area to assist state security forces and fire crews in search and rescue efforts.