Air India is working with Indian news outlet Times Network to “help rebuild the lives of people in Kerala” affected by the worst flooding in a century. The airline is waiving freight charges for transporting medicines and relief material such as water sanitation material to the region.
The BBC is reporting that more than 350 people have died in the floods while thousands remain marooned.
Officials told the media that rescue teams are focused on the riverside town of Chengannur, where as many as 5,000 are feared to be trapped.
A local politician, Saji Cherian, broke down in tears on TV on Friday describing the crisis there. “Please give us a helicopter. I am begging you. Please help me, people in my place will die. Please help us. There is no other solution, people have to be airlifted,” he said.
On Sunday, the BBC reported that state’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan vowed “to save even the last person stranded.”
