BHATKAL: Four people from a single family were buried alive in a landslide in Bhatkal town on Tuesday morning. The landslide happened following heavy rain which lashed the district after a gap of two weeks causing damage to hundreds of houses. The deceased have been identified as Lakshminarayana Naik (60), Lakshmi Naik (45), their son Narayan Naik (38) and Praveen Ramakrishna Naik, nephew of Lakshminarayana Naik. The hillock that caved in slowed down relief and rescue operations.
Residents of Bhatkal and surrounding villages spent the night in fear as the taluk recorded 533 mm rainfall. “The impact of the rainfall was such that many of us spent the night worrying about our safety,” said Inayath, a local resident. The landslide occurred at 3 am in the morning, but it took 11 hours to dig out the bodies. Bhatkal MLA Sunil Naik had to walk for miles to reach the affected place as the roads were blocked.
Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner, Mullai Muhilan said the incident was unfortunate as Bhatkal has not been affected by floods before. “The waterlogging is due to heavy rainfall and those affected by floods have been shifted to relief centres. At present, over 300 people have taken shelter in relief centres,” he said. “There is no loss of life due to floods. The deaths were due to the landslide. NDRF, SDRF and a few naval experts have been deployed at some vulnerable places. The next three days are crucial as a red alert has been issued for Uttara Kannada district,” he added.
Narayan Naik, brother of Lakshmi Naik, said, “There was a loud noise. We came out and saw a heap of mud and realised that it was a landslide. Since it was massive, we could not do much. We had to wait for rescue operations.”
