Emergency workers using heavy earthmoving machinery during search operations at the debris slip-hit site at Kalladi in Wayanad on Saturday.

| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Intensive search operations continued on Saturday (July 11, 2026) to trace Bikram Singh Rana, the lone person still missing in the debris slip at the tunnel construction site in Meppadi, Wayanad, but yielded no results as of late in the evening.​Mr. Rana, a project manager from Himachal Pradesh, was among the workers caught in the massive debris slip near the entrance to the under-construction Wayanad twin-tunnel road project at Kalladi on July 7.​On the day, a joint task force comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Fire and Rescue Services, State police, and local volunteers used heavy earth movers, specialised rescue equipment, and cadaver dogs in a desperate bid to locate the missing person.​The death toll from the tragedy rose to seven on Friday following the recovery of another body from the downstream stretches of the Meenakshi river. Relatives subsequently identified the victim as Rakesh Guchait, a 24-year-old project surveyor from West Bengal.​To ensure a systematic and scientific approach to the operation, authorities have divided the disaster area into four operational sectors. Search operations were concentrated in Zones II and IV as rescue teams attempted to trace Mr. Rana. Search teams also combed a six-kilometre stretch of the river, but found no trace of the missing person.Rescue authorities said search operations would continue until the last missing worker was found. As extensive earth removal and search operations are under way, traffic restrictions will be imposed on the Meppadi–Chooralmala road from 8 a.m. to 12 noon on Sunday (July 12, 2026). Movement across the Meenakshi bridge towards Meppadi and Chooralmala will also be restricted.Meanwhile, the relief camp set up at the Government Polytechnic College, Meppadi, was closed on Saturday. As the rain subsided, families who had been shifted there from the Kalladi debris slip area and other vulnerable locations in Meppadi grama panchayat returned to their homes with assistance from the Revenue department and the Local Self-Governments department. Published - July 11, 2026 08:43 pm IST