Indian soldiers building metal bridge to marooned area in Kerala landslides

CHOORALMALA, India: Indian soldiers rushed to complete construction of a metal bridge on Thursday to connect the worst affected area in the Kerala landslides as the search for survivors and bodies entered the third day in a disaster that has killed at least 178 people.

Heavy rain in Kerala state, one of India's most popular tourist destinations, led to the landslides in the hills of Wayanad district early on Tuesday, sending torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders downhill and burying or sweeping people living in villages to their deaths as they slept.

Army engineers scrambled to construct a 190-foot (58-metre) bridge to ferry heavy equipment from the nearest town of Chooralmala to the affected area, Mundakkai, after rising water in a local river washed away a makeshift bridge on Wednesday.

The main bridge was washed away in the landslides on Tuesday, leaving Mundakkai marooned.

"Our bridge is nearing completion... and once the bridge comes up, it will be a major change," V.T. Mathew, a senior army official, who is in charge of the rescue operations, told ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

"We will be able to induct all equipment into the site and once the equipment goes into the site, then we will be able to dig for people."

Steady rain and the river's rising water levels have hampered rescue work over the last two days. India's weather office forecast more heavy rain over the next 24 hours.

The disaster was the worst in Kerala since deadly floods in 2018. Experts said the area had received heavy rain in the last two weeks that softened the soil before extremely heavy rainfall on Monday triggered the landslides.

Authorities said 178 people were confirmed dead while 190 were still missing. The local Asianet news TV channel put the death toll at 267. Nearly 1,600 people have been rescued from hillside villages and tea and cardamom estates during the last two days, authorities added.

The death toll was expected to rise further once the construction of the metal bridge was completed and authorities are able to speed up the search.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who won a seat in Wayanad in the recent general election, but resigned as he was also elected in his family bastion in the north, was scheduled to visit the affected areas on Thursday.