Wayanad landslide: Once known for presence of gold particles, Kerala's Chaliyar river now a floating graveyard

Thiruvananthapuram: Chaliyar river that flows through Malappuram district of Kerala has historically been known to contain gold particles but now the river has literally become a graveyard amid the tragic landslides that hit the Wayanad region.

So far close to 200 bodies and body parts have been recovered from the river and search continues in the water body, which is 30 to 40 kilometres away from the landslide hit spots of Chooralmala and Mundakkai in Wayanad. Many of the limbs found had even started to decompose.

The presence of gold in the Chaliyar river was found during the British regime. Though exploration attempts were done, those were dropped owing to lack of commercial viability.

Locals living close to the river banks near Nilambur in Malappuram used to filter the sand from the river bed and collect minute gold particles from it which they believed came down from the mountains. Some people even used to eke out a living from it.

Subash, a local native of Nilambur, told DH that earlier a large number of people used to be engaged in searching for gold in the river. Many of them even used to earn around Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000 daily from this but the numbers have now come down, he said.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, several youths used to engage in gold hunt in the river. Last year the local police even cracked rackets that try to extract gold using pumps by creating pits in the river. It even affected the water flow and posed a risk of drowning. There were also reports of some getting drowned during the gold hunt.

Local people also used to believe that the golden brown colour of Nilambur teak is due to the influence of the gold present in the Chaliyar river.

Chaliyar, which is the fourth longest river of Kerala with a length of 169 kilometres, originates from Ilambaleri hills of Nilgiri mountains and joins the Arabian sea at Beypore in Kozhikode.

The Iruvazhinji river that originates from the Vellarimala in Wayanad, which is the epicentre of the present landslide, joins the Chaliyar river at the Soochipara waterfalls. Hence the bodies recovered from the Chaliyar could have scattered at the waterfalls.