"We Received A Liver": Harrowing Scenes From Wayanad Mortuary
Kerala is plunged in mourning. Stories emerging from Wayanad, the northern district of the state, are gut-wrenching. Voices of losses and misery are all that are resonating. Wayanad was hit with one of the biggest landslides the state has ever witnessed in its history. Over 350 were pronounced dead, and the figure is feared to be higher.
“Usually it was during the time of a child delivery, loved ones gather outside a hospital room with a piece of cloth, waiting. But here, the people are waiting with a white cloth in their hands, outside the mortuary, hoping to find anything that remains of their loved ones,” Sudheer, an Ideal Relief Wing (IRW) volunteer in Wayanad, told Timeline.
Sudheer is volunteering in a mortuary in Kalpetta Block Panchayath Family Health Centre, Meppadi, for the past two days. He is an IRW worker who travelled to Wayanad from Alappuzha’s Kayamkulam with his team after receiving the tragic news.
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Recalling the harrowing scenes he witnessed, Sudheer said, in some cases, only body parts are received, which are documented as a ‘body’. He said the mortuary received a ‘liver’ yesterday. That is all. The internal organ is counted as the mortal remaining of a person. Earlier, they received a ‘heart’.
Yesterday it was 12, and the day before yesterday the mortuary received 22 dead bodies. The figure included internal organs they received. He said only 11 of those 22 came as a whole. The other 11 were in scattered pieces of what once was a healthy human. He said it is extremely difficult to identify the body as they were completely distorted.
Citing a police official from the region, Sudheer said the death toll could climb up further. He said, “A SI told me there could be 500 more bodies… without adding those that were recovered until now.”
The volunteers helped the desperate who were waiting to identify the remaining of their loved ones. Sudheer said some bodies are beyond identification, as they are either scattered pieces or decayed.
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He was at a site where rescue missions are going on. They received a body today. It was only the person’s upper half. They could not find the lower half, he said.
Dog squads arrived to aid in the search. But Sudheer said the rescue mission is difficult, as huge rocks are scattered largely across the areas. He said hope of finding survivors is zero to none, as it appears impossible for a person to survive.
Huge rocks scattered across Chooralmala-Mundakkai area of landslide
Responding to the situation, the Kerala government issued guidelines, including the collection of DNA and dental samples, for the burial of the remains.
According to the Disaster Management Department’s guidelines, each body or body part will be assigned an identification number, which must be clearly recorded in all samples, photographs, videos, and associated materials.
The guidelines further state that the police should make every effort to identify the bodies or body parts. If identification is not possible, the remains will be handed over to the district administration for further action 72 hours after the inquest.
The district administration must notify the Meppadi panchayat and the panchayat or municipality where the burial site is located. If a doctor advises immediate burial due to decomposition or other reasons, the body will be released to the district administration without delay. The guidelines, issued on August 2, specify that all remains must be buried.
The search operations are still underway in many places, with over 1,300 rescuers using heavy machinery and advanced equipment to find survivors. The army, police, and emergency services are leading the efforts, joined by private companies specialising in search and rescue, as well as volunteers. Over 10,042 people are staying in 93 relief camps in Wayanad.
Sudheer at the Chooralmala valley where rescue operations are going on
