Kerala Landslide: 2 Doctors From Odisha Missing In Chooralmala

Bhubaneswar: Two doctors from Odisha who were on a visit to Kerala along with their wives are reported to have gone missing after the devastating landslide in Wayanad.

As per information, the wives of both the doctors are undergoing treatment at a hospital after they were rescued in a critical condition. Their family members have urged the state government to take steps for rescue of the missing doctors.

One of the missing doctors has been identified as Bishnu Prasad Chinnara of Choudwar Housing Board colony in Cuttack. He had gone to Kerala with wife Priyadarshini. Similarly, his friend Swadhin Panda and his wife Swikruti Mohapatra had also accompanied them on a vacation to Kerala.

Sources said they had gone to Bengaluru on July 26 and then proceeded to Kerala.

Bishnu Prasad is a 2nd year medicine post graduate (PG) student in a private medical college in Bhubaneswar, his wife is a lecturer in a private nursing college near Cuttack. Swikruti is third-year medical post graduate student from the same private medical college while Swadhin Panda is a former student of the college, sources said.

Chinhara’s family members have requested the state government to help them find their son.

Meanwhile in a post on X, Chief Minister Office said that the state government is in regular communication with their Kerala counterparts in view of the massive loss of lives due to the landslides in Wayanad. “According to information received from the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, two rescued Odias are under  treatment and two are missing. The district administration concerned has been instructed to meet the families of the affected people and informing them regularly about the situation.”

Notably, a large number of people have died and hundreds are feared trapped after two landslides hit Kerala’s Wayanad. The Prime Minister’s Office has announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those killed in the calamity. Those injured would be given Rs 50,000.

The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) said that the Fire force and NDRF teams are on the scene.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that all government agencies have joined the search and rescue operations in the wake of massive landslides that struck various hilly areas near Meppadi in Kerala’s Wayanad district.

Among the affected areas are Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala and Noolpuzha, authorities have said. Many roads have collapsed and a bridge has been swept away and several areas have become unreachable, Health Minister Veena George told news agency ANI.