Every time her phone rang, 28-year-old Shabnam Khatun from Taraiya, Bihar, answered with hope.
For the last three days, the calls had carried only uncertainty about her husband, 30-year-old Imran Ansari, who went missing after a landslide struck the tunnel excavation site at Kalladi in Kerala's Wayanad district.
On Thursday, July 9, the call she had feared finally came.
With a trembling voice, Shabnam told The News Minute that Imran's body had been recovered from the debris and taken to a hospital.
“It was just two months ago that he went to Kerala, to work for the tunnel project. He was earlier working in construction in Saudi Arabia. When he moved to Kerala, he told me that he could come home anytime and that it is good to work in Kerala,” she said, before breaking down in tears.
Imran was among the six who died in the landslide that struck the twin tunnel construction site in Wayanad's Kalladi on July 7. He had been working as a supervisor at the tunnel excavation site. His body was recovered on Thursday morning along with that of another missing worker, after three days of search operations.
“I have an eight-month-old daughter, he hasn’t even spent time with her properly,” Shabnam said before abruptly ending the call.
While Shabnam's family has received the news they dreaded, other families continue to cling to hope.
For 58-year-old construction manager Bikram Rana Singh's family in Himachal Pradesh, every passing hour has only deepened the uncertainty.
His brother, Pramodh Kumar Singh said they were still waiting for news.
“We have not heard any update yet, he remains missing till this morning. We still hope for his coming back,” he told TNM.
Bikram had come to Kerala in February 2026 to work on the tunnel project. As rescue teams continue searching through the debris, his family remains suspended between hope and fear.
The bodies of three workers were recovered from the debris on July 7 itself, soon after the landslide struck. The deceased were identified as Chandra Bhan, a grader operator from Madhya Pradesh; Bikash Kumar, a civil foreman from Bihar; and Anmol, a labourer from Jharkhand.
Five others, construction manager Vikram Rana from Himachal Pradesh, engineer Rahul from Himachal Pradesh, excavator operator Mohammad Imran from Bihar, surveyor Rakesh Guchhait from West Bengal, and surveyor Azharuddin Ansari from Uttar Pradesh, were reported missing beneath the debris.
On Thursday, July 9, rescue teams recovered the bodies of Imran, Rahul, and another person, taking the confirmed death toll to six.
The Kerala government has announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for the families of each of the deceased.
Even though six bodies have now been recovered, the search operation is far from over.
Two more people remain missing beneath the landslip debris.
Nine others were rescued from the site on July 7 and admitted to WIMS Hospital in Meppadi. They include Hari Kumar (32), Sooraj Yadhav (25), Sanjay Thakoor (25), Thanmay Ghosh (28), Kunju (39), Dileep (19) and Rajaneesh (27). Two others – Koodammal (37) and Meppadi Police Sub Inspector Santhosh Kumar – were discharged from the hospital.
