Kerala landslide: Death toll reaches 222

Pic/PTI

The death toll in the series of deadly landslides that rocked the hamlets of Kerala's Wayanad last week has touched 222, according to the state government on Monday, reported news agency PTI.

Among the total dead, 97 were male, 88 were female, and 37 were children, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said while sharing updates on the Kerala landslide, reported PTI.

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Among the 222 people dead, the bodies of 172 have been identified by their relatives, it said while sharing updates on the Kerala landslide.

A total of 180 body parts have been recovered so far from various places, and the post-mortem of 161 of them has been completed.

Ninety-one people are under treatment in various hospitals in Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts, and 256 people have already been discharged, the CMO added in the statement, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, officials said an 18-member team stranded near a waterfall in the forest in the district is safe.

One of the group members told a news channel over the phone that they had found the body of a man killed in the landslides, and it took them two and a half hours to recover him on Sunday evening, which left them stranded in the area. Official sources said the body was then airlifted by them, reported PTI.

"We are very safe," the group member said, adding that the Thunderbolt team of the Kerala Police is expected to reach them soon, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, over 2,500 people, including 599 children and six pregnant women, whose lives have been shattered by deadly landslides, are staying in various relief camps in Kerala's Wayanad, according to authorities on Monday, reported PTI.

As per the latest official figures released by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), a total of 16 rescue camps are there in Meppadi and other village panchayats in the hill district where the landslide-hit people are staying, reported PTI.

As many as 2,514 people belonging to 723 families are in the camps. Among them, 943 are male, 972 are female, and 599 are children, the CMO said, reported PTI.

Of the total number of women in the relief camps, six are pregnant, it added.

As per the government figures till Sunday evening, a total of 221 bodies and 166 body parts of the landslide victims had been recovered so far, reported PTI.

The number of missing people had gone down to 180 from the earlier 206 after the authorities were able to get in touch with some of them over the phone, they said on Sunday.

(With inputs from PTI)