Wayanad Landslides: Odisha Doc Swadhin Panda Yet To Be Traced; Toll Rises To 308, Over 220 Still Missing

Wayanad/Cuttack: While a pall of gloom has descended on Housing Board Colony in Choudwar with mortal remains of Dr Bishnu Prasad Chinara expected to arrive in Odisha on Friday, the other doctor, Swadhin Panda, who also went missing with him after landslides in Kerala’s Chooralmala where they were vacationing, is yet to traced.

According to official sources, the toll in the massive landslide, which struck several villages in Wayanad district on July 29, has climbed to 308 with more than 220 people still missing. “In the last four days we have been doing operations here. A joint team of the Indian army, the NDRF, the local police, special operations groups, the fire force, the Coast Guard and the Navy have been operating in all these areas… The revenue department is still trying to collect the data and find out how many people are here and how many people are missing. We have so far recovered more than 200 bodies and body parts…,” ADGP, Law & Order Kerala, M R Ajith Kumar told ANI.

Meanwhile, 40 teams of rescuers have commenced search operations in the landslide-affected district. The completion of a 190-foot-long Bailey bridge have facilitated movement of heavy machinery, including excavators and ambulances, to the worst-hit areas of Mundakkai and Chooralmala hamlets, significantly enhancing the search and rescue efforts, the TOI reported.

Birthday Celebration In Kerala Turn Tragic

Bishnu (34) and his wife Priyadarshini Paul along with Dr Swadhin Panda, also from Choudwar, and his wife Dr Sweekruti Mahapatra, left for Bengaluru on July 26. They celebrated his birthday at Bengaluru on July 27 and then left for Wayanad, where they stayed at Linora Villa at Chooralmala. The two couples were asleep in the villa when a devastating landslide swept them away at around 2 am.

While Bishnu’s body was found on Wednesday, his family members identified it on Thursday.

“God has snatched away my only son from me. I feel ruined,” said a visibly shaken 65-year-old Pramod Chinara, a retired officer of ARC, Charbatia.

Bishnu’s brother-in-law Amartya Paul, who is in Kerala, told the media that his sister had called from an unknown number and informed their father about the incident. “A nearby waterfall had swelled following heavy rainfall. The area then witnessed landslide and they were then swept away. My sister was rescued after she got stuck at a place,” he said.

Priyadarshini’s condition is stable and she is under treatment at a hospital in Kerala. She is working a nursing teacher at a private college in Tangi area of Cuttack.

Swadhin Yet To Be Traced

Swadhin, a senior resident doctor at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, is a resident of Raghunathpur in Bhubaneswar. He was in Bengaluru to attend a conference.

His sister, Somali Panda, said that the Odisha government officials are with her and coordinating with their Kerala counterparts to trace him. “My family is in a state of shock as he is yet to located even after 3 days,” Somali, who reached Kerala on Wednesday, told TOI.

The condition of Swadhin’s wife Sweekruti is stated to be critical.