Kerala: Search for bodies after India landslide buried hundreds

Landslides that hit the southern Indian state of Kerala earlier this week have killed 196 people. More than 200 people are still missing and some 9,000 people have been moved to relief camps. BBC Tamil’s Muralitharan Kasiviswanathan reports from the badly hit district of Wayanad.

“Have you seen this girl or her body?”

Clutching a mobile phone close to her heart, a woman goes from village to village, asking people the same question.

Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.

She shows two pictures of her niece Anita, who is missing.

In one, Anita is flashing the victory sign as she poses happily with her aunt. The nine-year-old moved to live with her after the death of her mother a few years ago.

The other photo shows a disfigured body on the ground.

The woman, who was too traumatised to disclose her name, said she received the picture on WhatsApp from some friends who thought it was Anita.

Since then, she has been trying to locate her niece, but hasn’t been successful. She is not sure if Anita is dead or alive.

Her story resembles that of many others who are desperately searching for their loved ones.

Nearly 200 people are still missing after vast swathes of the area were flattened by thick torrents of mud and water on Tuesday.

The disaster stuck at 2am as most people slept, giving them little chance to escape.