On vacation with wife in Wayanad, Odisha doctor missing after landslides

“Though we have come to know about our daughter-in-law, who is safe and being hospitalised. We don’t know the whereabouts of our son. We request the state government to help us to find our son,” said Pramod Kumar Chinhara, father of the missing doctor.

Bishnuprasad is a 2nd year medicine post graduate (PG) student in a private medical college in Bhubaneswar, his wife is a lecturer in a private nursing college near Cuttack.

The two others—Swekruti Mohapatra, a third-year medical post graduate student from the same private medical college, Swadhin Panda, is a former student of the college. Sources in the medical college said Swekruti is from Jharsuguda, though there are no other details about her.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the doctor’s sister Priyadarshini said her elder brother and sister-in-law had gone on vacation to celebrate the birthday of his brother on July 27.

“I spoke to my brother at around 10:30 pm on Monday to inquire about some medicine for my husband. They were at a homestay at that time. When we came to know about the incident, we tried to reach out to them. I spoke to my sister-in-law but we don’t have any information about my brother,” said Priyadarshini.

Priyadarshini said her sister-in-law said the entire house in which they were staying was swept away while she managed to stay with the help of a wall.

The state control room at the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office said they are in touch with the disaster management authority of Kerala.

“Though we have information about two persons from Odisha being hospitalised, the Kerala authorities are yet to share their details. We are in touch with them,” said a senior SRC officer.