Thrissur: The month of August at the Thrissur Medical College turned to be an extremely hectic time for the doctors as the hospital saw a high number of patients due to heavy rains in the area which caused landslides.
An early morning call on August 16 informed the doctors that a hill had crashed onto the Thrissur-Shoranaur state highway because of severe rains. The impact was such that the debris had moved 350-400 metres onto the road, killing 19 people on the spot.
A top cop from Vadakancherry police station remembered the call he received at 6:45am, but does not remember the person who called.
“It all happened suddenly and it definitely was the worst of all landslides in Thrissur,” the station in-charge, Ratheesh, told News18.
One of the doctors who helped the police pull out bodies from under the rubble, said that the team was ready with oxygen cylinders and other necessary first-aid tools but they only found dead people.
The deceased includes a vegetable seller and his family and other small-time shopkeepers.
Ratheesh further said that the road was still being cleared up after being re-opened on August 19.
Additionally, the news of the landslide is said to have reached the state authorities, including the health minister, late due to lack of mobile network.
Just hours apart, there were three other landslides that took place in the surrounding area. A landslide in Poomala killed two people; another one in Deshamangalam claimed two lives and one person died in Cheruthurti.
“In total, we had about 24 dead bodies to file autopsy reports for in one day. That was the day we realised the true extent of what was happening in Kerala,” a doctor at the Thrissur Medical College said.
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