Kerala landslides: 40 teams of rescuers resume search operations
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Braving rains and adverse terrain, 40 teams of rescuers resumed search operations in landslide-hit Wayanad district on the fourth day on Friday, officials said.
The search and rescue operations that got underway early morning received an impetus due to the completion of the 190-foot-long Bailey bridge that will enable the movement of heavy machinery, including excavators, and ambulances to the worst-affected Mundakkai and Chooralmala hamlets, they said.
A Defence source said Columns with dog squads commenced search operations at 7 am. Search operations were planned based on local interest.
The 40 teams will conduct search operations in six zones of the landslides-hit areas -- Attamala and Aaranmala (first), Mundakkai (second), Punchirimattam (third), Vellarimala village (fourth), GVHSS Vellarimala (fifth), and riverbank (sixth).
The joint teams will include personnel from the army, NDRF, DSG, Coast Guard, Navy, and MEG along with three locals and one forest department employee.
In addition to this, a three-pronged search operation will begin, focusing on the Chaliyar River, according to the rescue plan devised by the authorities.
The eight police stations, along the 40-km stretch of Chaliyar, will join forces with local swimming experts to search the river for bodies that may have flown downstream or are trapped along the riverbanks.
Simultaneously, another search operation will be conducted using a police helicopter.
Besides this, the Coast Guard, Navy, and Forest Department will jointly conduct a search operation focusing on the riverbanks and areas where bodies may be trapped, according to the rescue plan.
According to official sources, the extent of human loss will emerge when rescuers clear houses covered by debris and wood logs using heavy machinery. So far, 190 people have been killed and over 200 missing in the tragedy.
State Revenue Minister K Rajan, a day ago, had said that a drone-based radar from Delhi would arrive on Saturday to locate bodies buried in the mud.
He also said that currently, six dogs are assisting in the search operation and four more will arrive in Wayanad from Tamil Nadu.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
