Ten days after five persons went missing following a landslip at the Brahamagiri Hills in Kodagu, the authorities recovered one more body on Saturday.
The body was identified as that of Ravikiran, who was among the five reported missing when the landslip flattened the house of the Talacauvery temple priest with no trace of the residents. This confirms the deaths of three persons so far.
The two others whose bodies have been found are Narayanachar, the head priest of the temple, and his brother Anandateertha.
The search operations are continuing to trace Shantha, wife of Narayanachar, and Pawan, according to the Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy. The body of Narayanachar was recovered almost 2.5 km from the epicentre of the landslip on Tuesday and the body of Ravikiran too was found in the vicinity.
The National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force, Fire and Emergency Services personnel, the police, and Forest Department staff have intensified the search and combing operation in the area.
Kodagu was battered by heavy rain in the first week of August and Bhagamandala bore the nature’s fury as it received over 400 mm of rainfall for two consecutive days besides being hit by a major landslip. The road leading to Talacauvery was blocked, impeding the search operations in the initial days.
Relief distributed
Meanwhile, district in-charge Minister V. Somanna, who visited Talacauvery on Saturday, distributed relief to the family members of the deceased. He said the search operations to trace the remaining two would continue.
Intermittent rain has continued to lash Kodagu as the monsoon is still active and the district received 16 mm of rainfall as against the normal average of 20 mm in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday. The district received 716 mm of rainfall as against the normal average of 331 mm for the period August 1 to 15.
The monsoon deficit, which was 36% during the end of July, has been bridged to 12% owing to rain that lashed the district between August 5 and 9, underlining the intensity of the rainfall during the four days that brought deluge to the district. Kodagu has received 1,512 mm of rainfall as against the normal average of 1,724 mm for the period June 1 to August 15, which is 12% below normal, according to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre.
