Man attempts to survive in landslide-hit Wayanad hamlet by clinging to boulder
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): A man, covered in mud, was seen desperately trying to stand by clinging to a huge boulder in gushing flood water, in one of the harrowing scenes from a landslide-hit hamlet in Kerala's Wayanad district on Tuesday.
The man, suspected to have been washed away by the flood water, somehow got stuck between huge boulders but was unable to stand or swim to safety due to the thick marsh and strong currents.
The harrowing visuals of the hapless man's attempt to survive amidst scattered boulders in the floodwater came from Mundakkai village, where hundreds of people were reportedly trapped following the deadly landslides in the early hours of Tuesday triggered by heavy rainfall.
The visuals, taken by one of the villagers, were aired by television channels, urging authorities to send rescue teams to the location.
"He is trapped in the area near the local school in Mundakkai. He caught our attention for the first time by 7.30 am.
He is still continuing his attempt not to get carried away by the flood waters and trying to stand in the thick marsh," Raghavan, a block panchayat member who took the visuals on his mobile phone, said.
Villagers said though they were seeing the man's survival attempts, they could not reach the place or rescue him due to strong currents and marsh.
As the rescue mission continues in various hamlets, people could be seen hugging each other tight so as to not getting carried away in flood waters in many places.
People, especially elderly men and women, could also be seen being rescued by placing temporary metal bridges in areas cut off due to massive landslides.
A man could be seen trapped in mud after twin landslides hit Wayanad in Kerala. #WayanadLandslide #WayanadDisaster #WayanadLandslides pic.twitter.com/V21r6qFOXv
— Vani Mehrotra (@vani_mehrotra) July 30, 2024
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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.
