Bhubaneswar: Body of one of the Odia doctors, missing in the landslides triggered by incessant rains in Wayanad, has been found, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari informed on Wednesday.
“It is being suspected to be of Bishnu Prasad Chinara. After proper identification and formalities, arrangements will be made to bring the body to Odisha,” he said.
While the other doctor is still missing, a team from Odisha is being sent to Kerala, he added.
Expressing grief over the death, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi informed that the state government will be sending Director of Odia Diaspora ( Odisha Paribar) Dilip Routray and Joint Director Health Services Dr Arghya Pradhan to Wayanad to help the families of the deceased and those missing. “They will coordinate with the Kerala government and expedite the rescue and other related works,” he said.
The CM also directed the Special Relief Commissioner to remain in touch with the Kerala government.
Pujari had earlier told mediapersons that the state government was in touch with their counterparts in Kerala to gain information about the those missing in Wayanad. “The Special Relief Commissioner is also in touch with disaster management authority of Kerala. We have also contacted Odia officers there. A lot of people are still trapped under debris and armed forces are continuing with the relief operations,” he said.
The Minister said that a doctor couple and another doctor and his wife, who is a nursing teacher, were on a vacation in Wayanad when the landslides took place. “The women are under treatment. One among them have been shifted to the general ward after preliminary treatment. We are hopeful that they would recover soon,” he said.
Pujari further said department and the district administration have reached out to the families and updating them on the situation. “We are with the families and are optimistic that the doctors would soon be traced,” he had then said.
Also Read: 2 Doctors From Odisha Missing In Chooralmala
Chinara of Choudwar Housing Board colony in Cuttack was on a vacation in Wayanad with his wife Priyadarshini Pal, a lecturer in a private nursing college near Cuttack, and a doctor couple, Swadhin Panda and Swikrutee Mohapatra.
They had gone to Bengaluru on July 26 and reached Wayanad on July 29. The couples were in Chooralmal, a tourist town surrounded by hills and plantations, when the calamity struck.
Also Read: [Watch] Wayanad Landslides Toll Climbs To 148, Hundreds Still Trapped
Earlier in a Facebook post, Shanavas Palliya, Senate Member of Kerala University of Health Sciences, informed about Swikritee and Priyadarshini undergoing treatment at Dr Moopen’s Medical College. He added that Swikritee of Jharsuguda was on ventilator.
