At least two people were killed, nine injured and seven missing after debris piled up near a twin tunnel project site in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats slid amid heavy monsoon rains on Tuesday, burying shelters housing workers, a house and a church at Kalladi in Wayanad, Kerala. Surveillance camera footage from a nearby store showed the wreck sweeping away more than half a dozen vehicles, including a tanker truck, and pedestrians.
In July 2024, landslides in Wayanad amid heavy rains killed 254 people. It was one of the deadliest tragedies in Kerala, blamed on deforestation, among other causes.
Chief Minister V D Sathisan said the district collector and the Disaster Management Authority had ordered the tunnel project contractors to remove the rubble two weeks ago, on June 20, “but the contractors failed to remove the rubble. There was heavy rain in the area, which affected the ongoing rescue operations,” Satheesan said in Thiruvananthapuram.
The India Meteorological Department said Wayanad received 265 mm of rain in the 24 hours that ended at 8:30 am on Tuesday, and issued a red alert for the day.
Rescuers from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Kerala Fire and Rescue personnel were at the site, Sathisan said. He added that the missing are the officials supervising the project and the workers. He said: “All safety protocols must be adhered to during the implementation of such projects. The disaster here indicates the inaction of the project contractors.”
The double tunnel project is part of an all-weather alternative road linking Meppadi in Wayanad and Anakampoil in Kozhikode district to reduce traffic on the busy Tamarassery Ghat road, which is prone to landslides during monsoons.
The project involves an 8.11 km long double tunnel under the fragile hills and forests of the Western Ghats. Environmentalists opposed the project, warning that tunneling through the already fragile Ghats would destabilize slopes in the area, trigger landslides and interfere with the movement of wild elephants.
Sathisan’s predecessor, Pinarayi Vijayan, inaugurated the tunnel blasting work in March this year. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2029.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Member of Parliament from Wayanad, said that all efforts are being made to rescue those trapped. She added that Sathisan was monitoring the relief efforts, and that the police and NDRF had been at the site for some time. Government disaster response force teams and civil defense volunteers were also present at the site.
State Minister T Siddiq, who is also a local lawmaker, blamed the disaster on unscientific dumping of debris as part of the tunnel project. “There were prior indications of inaction on the part of project officials. These concerns were raised in multiple meetings with Konkan Railway Limited officials.” [Special Purpose Vehicle for the project]. But it appears that no corrective steps have been taken.”
Sathisan asked his friend and Revenue Minister A P Anil Kumar to rush to Wayanad to supervise the rescue and relief operations. A relief camp was scheduled to be opened at a government school to transport people from settlements prone to landslides.
