Rescuers search for survivors after landslides kill 166 in Kerala

CHOORALMALA, India - Soldiers and rescuers walked through slush and rocks under steady rain, looking for survivors and bodies in the hills of India's Kerala state on July 31, a day after at least 166 people were killed in monsoon landslides.

Nearly 1,000 people had been rescued from hillside villages and tea and cardamom estates in Wayanad district, and 225 were still missing, the authorities said on July 31.

They said at least 166 people died and 195 were injured, while the local Asianet News TV channel put the death toll at 179.

Heavy rain in Kerala led to the landslides early on July 30, sending torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders downhill and burying or sweeping people away to their deaths as they slept.

It was the worst disaster in the state since deadly floods in 2018.

Experts said the area had been receiving heavy rain in the last two weeks which softened the soil and that extremely heavy rainfall on July 29 triggered the landslides.