One worker was killed and seven were missing after a landslide struck at an under-construction tunnel project in Kerala’s Wayanad district on Tuesday. A large-scale rescue operation is now underway. News reports said local residents managed to rescue three workers before official rescue teams arrived.The landslide struck near the Meenakshi Bridge in the Kalladi area of the southern Indian state where work on the Anakkompoyil-Meppadi project, part of the Kozhikode-Wayanad twin tunnel project, was going on. The site is about 4km from Chooralmala, one of the villages devastated by the deadly 2024 Wayanad landslides.Authorities said that Wayanad had been receiving heavy rainfall since Monday because of which work at the site had been suspended.According to the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, excavation debris slid down the slope, blocking nearby roads and striking workers in the area. The debris also buried several vehicles used to transport workers engaged in the project. Several people were injured and they were taken to nearby hospitals.Residents said heavy earth-moving machinery would be needed to clear the debris and assist search teams.Chief minister VD Satheesan convened an emergency meeting following the incident and instructed district ministers to reach Wayanad to oversee rescue and relief efforts immediately.Agriculture minister T Siddique blamed the incident on construction practices rather than natural causes. “This isn’t a natural landslide. It’s a man-made landslide. It happened due to the unscientific dumping of excavated earth,” he said.“It’s a disaster perpetuated by unscientific dumping of soil and mud as part of the tunnel project. There were indications of such actions and they were raised at meetings of the Konkan officials. But it seems no corrective steps were taken. Six people have been hospitalised so far. NDRF teams from Kozhikode and Wayanad are en route. Efforts are on to search for the trapped people”The project, inaugurated last year, is aimed at improving year-round connectivity between Kozhikode, Malappuram and Wayanad districts. Implemented by the Konkan Railway Corporation, it includes the construction of an 8km twin tunnel as part of an 8.7km four-lane corridor cutting through the Western Ghats.The project, expected to be completed within four years, received conditional environmental clearance after the central environment ministry reviewed studies on the region’s geology, drainage and landslide risks following concerns over construction in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.The incident comes nearly two years after landslides triggered by torrential rain devastated Wayanad in July 2024, destroying villages including Chooralmala and Mundakkai and killing hundreds of people in one of Kerala’s worst natural disasters.