Pet dog leads rescuers to child’s body

Kuvi accompanied and alerted the search team

Dhanushka’s pet dog Kuvi helped recover the two-year-old’s body from a river nearly four km from the landslip-hit estate lanes of Pettimudy on Friday.

A series of landslips had hit the Nayamakkad tea estate at Pettimudy, near Rajamala, in Idukki district last Thursday. Four layams (workers’ quarters) were buried under debris as a hill nearly 3 km away from the housing lines slid down.

Dhanushka was the youngest daughter of Pratheeshkumar, whose body was recovered a few days ago. His wife, Kasturi, and elder daughter, Priyadarshini, are missing.

The only surviving member of the family was her grandmother who identified the body and recognised Kuvi as their pet dog.

For the past several days, Kuvi was found wandering in the area and had accompanied the search team. When the body of the child was found in the river, it continuously barked alerting search workers.

With the recovery of Dhanushka’s body, the toll in the Pettimudy landslip rose to 56 on Friday.

Officials say 14 persons are still missing in the landslip and the search operation will continue.