New Delhi: The number of suspected fatalities has risen sharply at the Wayanad tunnel road construction site where a mudslide occurred on the morning of Tuesday, July 7, amid heavy rainfall, the Hindu reports.Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan spoke to district officialls and later held an emergency meeting with Agriculture Minister T. Siddique as rescuers rushed to the site. Satheesan earlier confirmed the death of one person in the incident.Reports said on Tuesday afternoon that six people were injured in the mudslide at the construction site in north Kerala and that at least five were pulled out from the debris alive and shifted to a hospital. The numbers of the hospitalised has risen to seven, said the chief minister.The Hindu said work had already been suspended on Monday (July 6) at the site due to the heavy monsoon showers. The rescued were found close to the homes where the workers on the tunnel project live.A red alert was issued by the IMD – its highest-level warning of severe rainfall – on Tuesday in Wayanad. Neighbouring Kozhikode also has a high rainfall warning as have Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Idukki.Rainfall forecasts for Wayanad rose sharply over the last 24 hours, taking it from a lower-than-expected precipitation range to very high rainfall, reports ANI, citingPolice and the local administration are carrying out a search and rescue operation at the site. Two teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) reached the site to aid in the rescue work, Kerala Revenue Minister A.P. Anil Kumar said. He is one of two Kerala ministers deployed at the site, including T. Siddique, who belongs to Wayanad.As per the Times of India, locals also rescused three workers trapped at the site. It said the area has private homes and homestays. There are fears of men and machinery trapped near the tunnel, which is part of a road project to connect Kozhikode to Wayanad.The incident reportedly occurred when an under-construction retaining wall made of concrete collapsed due to heavy rainfall, which triggered a mudslide. Other reports suggest that discarded mud came crashing down during heavy rainfall, possibly catching workers unawares at the work site.The area where the mudslide occurred was badly affected during the 2024 monsoon landslides. The Indian Express reports that Meenakshi is four kilometres away from Chooralmala, one of the worst-hit villages of the landslides that killed around 300 people and wiped out two villages.The Rs 2,100-crore tunnel project (Anakkampoyil-Kalladi-Meppadi tunnel) is being built in the ecosensitive Western Ghats region amid objections from environmentalists.