Thiruvananthapuram: At least five people were killed, five were missing and eight injured after a rain-soaked mound of excavated earth gave way at the site of a multi-crore tunnel project in Kerala’s Wayanad and swept away vehicles and onlookers on a road.
The chief minister described the tragedy as “man-made”.
According to the suo motu FIR registered by Meppady police, the mudslide occurred between 11am and 11.30am near Meenakshi Bridge, where work on the road tunnel connecting Wayanad and Kozhikode districts was under way. The FIR stated that earth from the upper portion of the tunnel slope collapsed, triggering the slide.
The accident site is hardly 5km from Mundakkai and Chooralmala villages, where a devastating landslide claimed at least 254 lives in 2024.
A video clip showed the mound of mud, which had accumulated near Meenakshi Bridge, suddenly collapsing in the rain, bursting through the barricades set up near the tunnel construction site, bringing down trees and sweeping away people, a bus, an oil tanker and bikes. A matador is seen in the clip, caught on the CCTV cameras of a restaurant, reversing swiftly to escape the mudslip.
Three of the victims have been identified as Chandraban, an operator from Madhya Pradesh; Bikash Kumar, a civil foreman from Bihar; and Anmol, a worker from Jharkhand.
The Telegraph spoke to Baalraj and his wife Kudamal, who work at the Meenakshi Estate nearby. “We were waiting at the bus stop near Grilax Restaurant. When we heard people shouting from a distance, we realised something was amiss. Before we could react, a wall of mud engulfed us. We miraculously escaped with a few scratches,” Baalraj said.
Wayanad district collector D.R. Meghashree had issued an order as far back as June 20 asking the contracting company to remove the huge pile of mud, but no action had been taken. Incessant rain over the past two days acted as the trigger for the mudslide in the hill district.
Chief minister V.D. Satheesan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram after visiting the State Disaster Management Authority office that the tragedy was man-made.
“We had informed the contracting company in advance that the soil piled up for the tunnel construction should be removed. The district collector and the chairperson of the Disaster Management Authority had issued an order on June 20. The public works department minister had held a meeting and directed that the soil be removed immediately. However, the contractors did not follow the instructions,” Satheesan said.
V. Ashraf, a construction worker who was involved in the rescue effort, told this newspaper: “Site engineers had asked labourers to clean the mud and sludge that had washed onto the road because of the rain.”
The Konkan Railway Corporation is the implementing agency for the 8.1km Wayanad twin-tube, four-lane tunnel road project. While the Bhopal-based Dilip Build Con is entrusted with the construction of the tube tunnels, the approach roads and bridges are to be built by the Calcutta-headquartered Royal Construct.