Sludge and clay fail sniffer dogs at Kavalappara site

Thiruvananthapuram: Two of man's best friends were also busy with the rescue mission launched by the authorities at   Kavalappara,  Bhooda-nam,  in Malappuram district, which was struck by a landslide the other day.   Charlie, a German Shepherd,  and Nilu, a Labrador,  joined   the police and other forces  in searching for the missing people in  the debris. However,  due to the 30-feet sludge and clay, Charlie and Nilu were rather helpless.

Foreign countries deploy cadaver dogs, which are trained to use their  sense of smell to locate human remains at the sites of  landslips and earthquakes. During the Bhuj earthquake in 2001, the rescue mission relied on cadaver dogs to take out people, some of them alive and others dead. Indian Army has specially trained sniffer dogs as well as cadaver dogs which  help   save lives.  Ajaxi, a sniffer dog of  the CRPF, rescued a man trapped in a landslide on Jammu - Srinagar highway on July 31.

But Kerala has not been relying on ‘man’s best friend’ until now. Dr. Sekhar L. Kuriakose, member-secretary, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority,  told DC that this time  they had  deployed two sniffer dogs in the rescue mission.

“The terrain at  Kavalappara is treacherous and the rescue mission faced certain limitations. The Malappuram police has been using  two sniffer dogs,”  said Dr Sekhar.

Till Tuesday evening,  31 bodies were retrieved from Malappuram district alone. U. Abdul Karim, Malappuram police superintendent, told DC that Charlie and Nilu could not trace any bodies on  Tuesday. “Usually the sniffer dogs can locate trapped people amid the debris only within two to three feet. With landslide occurring from a 1,000-metre height and the debris piled up at 30-feet, it is impossible for the dogs to do anything,”  said Abdul Karim of Perinthalmanna.

A senior veterinary surgeon told DC that the police should keep cadaver dogs due to the frequent floods and landslides.

“The sniffer dogs of  the police are not trained to retrieve human beings or their remains from debris. It is high time the state has rescue dogs in its roll,”  he  said.