The landslide-hit area in Vattavada
Heavy rain has been continuing in Vattavada, Kottakambur and the adjoining border areas, including Pampadum Shola, for the past several days. The incident has caused concern among residents, particularly farmers who use several temporary sheds in the Vattavada region. Meanwhile, a bridge on the road from Vattavada to Thattampara was washed away in the heavy rain, disrupting traffic in the area.
Residents who heard the loud noise rushed to the spot and launched rescue operations. Continuous rain and the difficult terrain initially made it hard to bring machinery to the site. The residents removed the debris manually using wooden poles and other available materials and eventually pulled all three victims out. However, Balakrishnan and Chinnu had died on the spot. Mariamma was rescued alive and shifted to hospital. Chinnu had gone to Balakrishnan’s farmland for work. Balakrishnan leaves behind his children Vijayalakshmi, Lokesh and Nandini. Chinnu leaves behind her husband Chinnamani and children Vishnu and Megha. The bodies were shifted to the Adimali Taluk Hospital for postmortem.