A major landslide struck near Kalladi, close to Meppady in Wayanad district, on Tuesday, killing at least two people and leaving several others trapped under mud and debris. Officials say the death toll could still rise as rescue operations continue.
The Disaster Unfolds
The landslide hit around 11 a.m. near Meenakshi Bridge at Kalladi, at the site of an ongoing tunnel road project meant to connect Kozhikode and Wayanad districts — construction that began last year. Footage that later circulated showed a wall of mud surging across the road and over the bridge, sweeping a parked tanker lorry along with it toward nearby commercial establishments as people, including women, ran to escape. In one especially harrowing clip captured on CCTV, a lorry rammed into a parked jeep, momentarily trapping a man and woman between the vehicles — both of whom survived.
Locals managed to pull three people to safety from the site, which also houses workers connected to the tunnel project as well as a few homes and homestays in the area.
Rescue and Evacuation Efforts
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force, Fire and Rescue Services, police, and the Forest Department, alongside local residents, are leading search and rescue work. The district administration has begun evacuating nearby families as a precaution, with heavy rain continuing to lash the region. Evacuees are being moved to temporary shelters set up at Meppady. The Kalladi-Meppady road has been blocked as a result of the slide.
According to officials, seven people remain missing and seven others have been hospitalised with injuries.
Questions Over Site Safety
Engineers linked to the tunnel project told media that no actual tunnelling had taken place since June 12, with only reinforcement and slope-safety work ongoing. Around 15 workers had reportedly been assigned to build a protective gabion wall near the site’s mud disposal area when the slope gave way. One engineer said the collapse originated outside the designated construction zone, at the far edge of a slope, and that the debris reached Meenakshi Bridge within seconds. He said several technical staff on the far side of the bridge escaped safely, while others nearby — a mix of workers, security personnel, and engineers — were caught in the mudflow.
A senior state official said no regular workers were present at the site when the slide occurred, noting that a larger tragedy might have unfolded otherwise.
Political Fallout Over Dumped Earth
Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan visited the state disaster management authority’s office in Thiruvananthapuram to review the situation, confirming one death, seven hospitalised, and seven missing at the time. He said contractors had been directed well in advance by the state’s PWD minister and the district collector to clear large volumes of excavated earth piled at the site, but that the instruction had gone unheeded. He also said the landslide was not linked to any failure in issuing a weather alert, attributing it instead to the mud not being cleared as ordered.
Kerala’s Agriculture Minister T Siddique went further, calling the event a “man-made landslide” resulting from unscientific dumping of excavated soil, and noting that concerns about the dumping practices had been raised earlier after previous heavy rains in the district. He said similar dumping methods had been used at the nearby Wayanad Township project, which is housing survivors of the 2024 Wayanad landslide, and that the government would examine why earlier safety directions were not enforced.
Weather Conditions
The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for Wayanad shortly after the landslide, following very heavy rainfall recorded in the Mananthavady and Vythiri areas. A red alert was also declared for neighbouring Kozhikode district, with orange alerts issued for Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod. Vythiri received 123 mm of rain and Mananthavady 64 mm over the day — readings that fall within Kerala’s official heavy-to-very-heavy rainfall categories.
Rescue operations remain ongoing as authorities continue searching for those still missing.
