“Everything was turned upside down in a few seconds and houses, our relatives and family members were swept away before even they could cry out for help,” said Oman residents who lost their kin in landslides in Wayanad, a rural district of India's Kerala state.
Mohammed Naufal, who arrived in Muscat just three months ago seeking a better life, lost 16 members of his family including parents, wife, three children, brother, sister-in-law, their three children, sisters, and their children along with their ancestral home when the landslides wiped three villages beyond any trace. Naufal arrived back in Kerala on July 31 to pay last rites to his family.
Shihab, a resident of Maabela, lost 7 members of his family and some of his family members are still believed to be under mud while some remains were found and buried.
Abdul Aziz, native of Wayanad, working in Al Buraimi, lost his wife, mother and other relatives. Aziz, who is currently on vacation, had relatives in Chooralmala and Mundakai region, and has only a temporary shelter to stay.
Ashraf, who works in Barka, lost his life in the landslides along with his relatives and cousins.
A pregnant daughter of social activist Naushad Kallai's uncle and his family were among the dead. Barka resident Saifuddin Madani's brother-in-law's family and around 10 members of Sameer from Barka along with his maternal family also lost their lives in the torrents of mud that gushed forth wiping off literally everything around.
Sharing his agony over the mass deaths, Hussain, an employee of Nesto Suhar, told the Observer that he lost three of his cousins in the killer landslides.
“I had spoken to my cousins the night before the incident, and they shared their concerns over the ongoing rains. But never ever did I or my family imagined that they would lose their lives to the rains," said Hussain.
Villages like Punjrimattom, Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, Meppadi and Kunhome of Wayanad district bore the brunt of nature's fury on July 30, when multiple landslides occurred killing nearly 400 and displacing several hundreds. Authorities said heavy rains triggered the collapse of hillsides, resulting in gushing water, and boulders cascading down onto the area.
Roughly, as many as 387 people have been killed and over 180 are still missing in Kerala's worst natural calamity. To make the situation grimmer, over 160 body parts have been recovered from under the debris by Monday afternoon and authorities are conducting DNA tests to identify the dead.
Some of the expatriates from the district who are on vacation are still trying to locate their family members and friends among the debris.
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