Idukki landslide: 2 NDRF teams, district fire dept and 3 other teams lead rescue operation

Idukki (Kerala) [India], Aug 9 : Two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, a full unit of Idukki Fire and Rescue team, a team each from Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram, and a team which received special training are leading the rescue operations in Idukki's Rajamala, informed the District Information Office on Sunday.
It added that 105 members of Kerala Armed Police, 21 members of local police, and 10 members of Rapid Action Force are also present on the spot of the landslide.
''Two NDRF teams consisting of 57 people, full unit of Idukki Fire and Rescue team, 50 member team who got special training, 24 member team from Kottayam and 27 member team from Thiruvananthapuram leading the rescue operations in Rajamala," said the District Information Office (DIO) today.
The DIO also released a list of 42 persons who lost their lives in the landslide here, according to which 20 men and 20 women, along with two boys aged 13 and 14 years, died in the tragedy.



Speaking to ANI, the District Collector of Idukki said, "Death toll rises to 42 in Rajamala landslide incident after 16 bodies were found today."
The last rites of the bodies, recovered in the past two days, were conducted on Saturday, the administration said.
On Friday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakhs to kin of the deceased.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also expressed his condolences over deaths due to landslide here and announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs each from Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to the kin of deceased.
Heavy rains in several parts of Kerala have triggered floods and landslides which have wreaked havoc in the region over the past few days.