Bhubaneswar: Two bodies were recovered on Sunday from a landslide-hit village in south Odisha, taking the death toll in the state due to Cyclone Arnab to six.
Gidipabali, a sparsely-populated small village on the border of Ganjam and Kandhamala districts, was washed away after heavy debris and sludge cascaded down the hills due to Arnab-induced heavy rainfall earlier this week.
Around 12 people went missing, while 13 others who could escape the landslide have been sheltered at a relief centre near G Udaygiri, according to Kandhamala District Collector Vedbhusan.
Rinima Mallik, one of the survivors of the landslide, walked 25 kilometres through jungle roads with her two children on her shoulders to the cyclone relief centre near G Udaygiri, PTI reported.
“My husband and father are missing… Don’t know how to support my twins. We do not want to go back to the village,” she said, urging the state government to help her settle elsewhere.
Soudamini Mallik, another survivor whose family members are missing, said the landslide occurred when the village was asleep. “Sludge and boulders rolled down on our house. Some of us who woke up by the sound ran for safety. We do not know what happened to others,” she recalled.
Search is underway to trace 10 other missing people, officials said.
Ten 10 landslide incidents have been reported in Odisha due to incessant rainfall brought about by Cyclone Arnab, which made landfall in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on October 28.