Mass graves, cremations as Wayanad landslides death toll crosses 300

It is a little after 11am and there is a slight drizzle. The narrow path to the public cemetery in Muttil panchayat in Kerala’s Wayanad district cuts away from the main road near a culvert.

In the rain, it has become muddy and treacherous. It snakes past coffee plantations on either side, a small temple, and finally leads to the graveyard, where around 100 men are toiling strenuously to dig 20 graves on one end, one after the other.

Officials said the mass graves are meant for the unidentified body parts of those who perished in Tuesday’s (July 30) landslides that flattened the neighbourhoods of Chooralmala, Mundakkai, Attamala, and other areas.

They were forced to take the decision to respectfully dispose of the body parts that are disfigured and mutilated beyond recognition, in the face of a mounting heap of such remains at morgues and hospitals in the district. The death toll in the landslides on Friday evening crossed 300, with over 200 still reported to be missing.

Asharaf, vice president of the Muttil panchayat, and Sreedevi Babu, the local body president, who were at the centre of the action at the graveyard, told HT that a late-night online meeting was convened on Thursday by the joint director (local self-government department) with officials of eight panchayats on the subject of the burial of landslide victims.

“We were told that the 73 body parts retrieved from the river Chaliyar and assumed to have been washed away from the landslide sites are getting worse by the hour. And so it was important to dispose of them properly. Each of the local bodies was directed to dig graves in the respective public cemeteries. We were told to dig up 20 graves, but we have informed the higher-ups that we have enough space to accommodate more bodies,” Asharaf said.

He explained that the DNA samples have been taken from all body parts during autopsies and that available information about each of the remains would be stored beside the respective graves if families claim ownership in the future.

“All protocols including safety measures will be followed in the handling of the remains,” he said.

“To us, these are human beings, rising above caste and religion lines. They are our people, and we must accord them respect. It is an unimaginable tragedy,” added Asharaf.

Fifteen kilometres away, at a crematorium run by Seva Bharati, the community service wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Meppadi town, the number of wooden funeral pyres were increased from the existing three to 10 in the light of the rising fatalities in the landslides.

On Thursday evening, wails and cries rent the air inside the crematorium as the body of a 19-year-old boy from Mundakkai, shrouded in white cloth, was brought out of an ambulance. Grieving family members of the victim, including his sisters and friends, sobbed as a volunteer slightly lifted the cloth above his face. The body, though identified, was in an advanced stage of decomposition. After a few minutes of prayer, it was swiftly taken to one of the pyres, where it was consigned to flames.

Santhosh Kumar, an in-charge at the crematorium, told HT, “Usually, we have 2-3 cremations on normal days. On Wednesday, we did 21 cremations, with eight of them being done simultaneously. We have given word to the officials that we can accommodate as many funerals as we can with the help of volunteers who are ready 24×7. With dozens still missing, we expect to handle more remains in the coming days.”