By Munsif Vengattil, Chris Thomas and Jose Devasia
CHOORALMALA, India (Reuters) -Indian soldiers rushed to complete construction of a metal bridge on Thursday to connect the worst affected area in the Kerala landslides as the search continued for survivors and bodies after the disaster that has killed at least 189 people.
Heavy rain in the southern coastal state of Kerala, one of India's most popular tourist destinations, caused landslides in the hills of Wayanad district early on Tuesday, sending torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders downhill and burying or sweeping people to their deaths as they slept.
Army engineers scrambled to build a 190-foot (58 m) bridge to ferry heavy equipment from the nearest town of Chooralmala to the affected area, Mundakkai, after rising water in a local river washed away a makeshift bridge on Wednesday.
The main bridge was washed away in the landslides on Tuesday, cutting off Mundakkai.
"Our bridge will be ready in a few hours and once the bridge comes up, it will be a major change," V.T. Mathew, a senior army official in charge of the rescue operations, told Reuters.
"We need to search the entire area with heavy equipment which can move on the bridge. It will speed up all rescue and retrieval efforts."
People trapped in places like tea plantations have all been rescued, locals and rescue officials said.
Authorities said they were not expecting any more survivors and were looking to retrieve the bodies. There was no information on the number of tea-plantation workers staying in makeshift houses made of clay, wood and tin that were completely flattened by the landslides.
Steady rain and lack of road access to affected areas have hampered rescue work over the last two days. Light rain continued on Thursday as rescue workers shifted through the debris amid the mud and sludge.
Teachers at a nearly destroyed local school in Chooralmala were seen trying to retrieve relevant documents and student records.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin were among leaders who extended their condolences.
"Our prayers are with the victims of this tragic event, and we mourn with the families who have lost loved ones. We commend the bravery of the Indian service members and first responders supporting the complex recovery effort," Biden said in a statement.
The disaster was the worst in Kerala since deadly floods in 2018. Experts said the area had received heavy rain in the last two weeks that softened the soil before extremely heavy rainfall on Monday triggered the landslides.
Authorities said 189 dead bodies have been recovered while 206 were still missing. The local Asianet news TV channel put the death toll at 283.
Nearly 1,600 people have been rescued from hillside villages and tea and cardamom estates during the last two days, authorities said, adding that nearly 350 buildings were affected.
The death toll was expected to rise further once the construction of the metal bridge was completed and authorities are able to speed up the search.
"Our focus is to rescue those who were isolated and stranded," Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of the state, told reporters after conducting an aerial survey of the landslides-hit areas.
"Rescue operations will continue in the river to search for missing persons. Rescued people are temporarily being shifted to camps and rehabilitation work will be done at the earliest."
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who won a seat in Wayanad in the recent general election, but resigned as he was also elected in his family bastion in the north, also visited the affected areas on Thursday.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengatill, Chris Thomas and Jose Devasia; writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Kirsten Donovan)
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