‘Bring him back’: Hope meets loss in Indian villages hit by landslides

Nearly 300 people have been killed in the landslides in Kerala state, and the toll is expected to rise.

Wayanad, India — Braving heavy rain, Ubais VV rushed to the government hospital in Meppadi village.

Around him, ambulances flashing red and blue lights and blaring their sirens also arrived at the hospital, carrying bodies of people buried or washed away by a series of landslides that devastated three villages on Tuesday in Kerala’s Wayanad district in the mountains of the Western Ghats.

The 56-year-old Ubais had prayers on his lips as he searched for his daughter Risana, grandson Hanil, son-in-law Firose and the parents of Firose. But he couldn’t find them in the hospital. Instead, the next day, rescue workers retrieved Firose’s body from the Chaliyar River. Now, Ubais is hoping against hope that the rest of his family survived.

“I haven’t spent enough time with my beloved grandson. Hope Allah the Almighty will bring him back,” he told Al Jazeera on Thursday at the mosque in the village of Meppadi.

The confirmed death toll from the multiple landslides stood at 289 as of Thursday, but those steering the search operations and people’s representatives in local self-government bodies believe the actual count could be higher.

At the nearby church-run St Joseph’s School, which has been converted into a shelter for more than 300 people who had left their villages when the rain intensified before the landslides, Reverend Sunny Abraham consoled 62-year-old Nabeesa P.

Eleven members of Nabeesa’s family are missing. “We are here to support you, mother. You will get to know about the whereabouts of all your relatives soon,” he said, holding her hands tightly.

And at the Hindu crematorium a few metres away, relatives of