Kerala Man Watches Flood Wash Away Entire Family and House After Landslide in Mallapuram

As rains continue to wreak havoc in Kerala, a chilling video of a man narrowly escaping gushing waters as he watched his family being washed away after a landslide in Mallapuram has emerged.

The man, Sarath, was standing outside his home in Kottakunnu, talking to his mother when the mudslide appeared from nowhere, uprooting everything in its path.

CCTV visuals showed that the man and his mother saw the mudslide at the last moment and made a dash to escape it, but only he managed to survive as he reached the corner of his house as seen in the video. The lady, Sarojini, was swept along with the falling mud and trees as she could not run fast enough.

Along with his mother, Sarath’s wife and one-and-half-year-old child, who were inside the house, were also trapped in the mudslide.

The incident took place around 2pm on Friday and none of the missing persons have been found despite rescue operations continuing till late in the night.

The area’s deputy SP told NewsMinute that all three - Sarojini (the man’s mother), Geethu (wife) and a one-and-a-half-year-old child - are are likely to have died in the mud slide.

In all, at least 40 people were feared trapped after the major landslide in Malappuram district. According to authorities, the people living in the area had been warned of possible landslides and were asked to move out. However, only 17 families agreed to shift to relief camps.

At least 42 people have been killed in the floods in the state so far, officials have said, and more than one lakh have been shifted to relief camps.

The Kerala State Disaster Management has also issued red alerts for Saturday, indicating the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall in seven districts - Ernakulam, Idukki, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur. Five others, including Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur and Kasargod, have been issued orange alerts.