EcsTAsY&AGONY THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l wednesday l july 08, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE city EDITION Messi leads great escape vs Egypt S w ar o o p s w aminat h an @ Bengaluru THE world has never seen anything like him. The world will never see anything like him ever again. So, honestly even if , you have never supported him, it’s never too late. For the vast majority of the last 20 years, it has been an utter privilege to be wowed by the magic of Lionel Andres Messi. There is no saying how much longer he has in the world game. It could end in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. It very nearly ended in the last 16 in a fever dream of a game against Egypt in Atlanta. On an increasingly fraught afternoon for the world champs in Atlanta, The Pharaohs were up 2-0 and coasting to one of the great shocks in the history of the tournament before the 39-year-old dragged the team to his level. First was an assist, a clipped cross from the right-hand side which was headed home by Cristian Romero. In the 83rd minute, all that tension among the masses had evaporated in an outpouring of joy as Messi drilled a first-time left-foot shot home from close range. Inside 300 seconds, one of football’s greatest created as well as scored for yet more records. With their tails up, Argentina threw men forward as they had the momentum. And the game’s winning goal promptly came thanks to a blistering counter; Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez combining to create it for Enzo Fernandez to score the P13 late winner (3-2).  ronaldo’s wc chapter ends in round of 16 Cristiano Ronaldo walked off the pitch after his final World Cup match for Portugal with a stoic look on his face. The sixth and final World Cup for the 41-yearold ended with a 0-1 loss to Spain in a Round of 16 tie. CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Landslip at tunnel site leaves 3 dead, 7 missing  CM says project contractor ignored directives to remove soil piled up near the construction site  Contracting firm claims it complied with all norms; Konkan Rly Corporation announces inquiry L e s ly J o s e p h @ Meppadi A landslip at the Wayanad twin-tunnel road project near Meenakshi Bridge in Kalladi claimed three lives, left at least seven people missing, and ignited a political and legal storm on Tuesday While heavy . monsoon rain triggered the initial slope instability, residents and local representatives termed it a “man-made disaster”, blaming corporate negligence and a complete failure of regulatory oversight. The three victims have been identified as Chandra Ban, an operator from Madhya Pradesh; Bikash Kumar, a civil foreman from Bihar; and Anmol, a worker from Jharkhand. T h e c o l l ap s e o c c u r re d around 11 am, sending a massive torrent of liquified mud, rocks and construction debris crashing onto the Meppadi– Chooralmala road. The deluge buried the Meenakshi Bridge, engulfed a private transit bus and flattened a roadside eatery where workers had gathered. Nine labourers were pulled out from the sludge and rushed to Meppadi WIMS Hospital. Two of them remain in critical condition in intensive care unit. At the heart of the growing outrage is the dumping of tens of thousands of tonnes of excavated earth by the project’s contractor, Dilip Buildcon Limited, operating under the supervision of the Konkan Railway Corporation. “I had a miraculous escape. I saw the massive soil sliding down and ran for my life,” said local resident Hamsa Manthikkara. “The company had heaped the excavated soil at the site. Though concrete retaining walls were built around the heaps, we had repeatedly warned they were inadequate,” he said. Chief Minister V D Satheesan said a string of official warnings issued more than a fortnight before the landslip went unheeded, paving the way for the disaster. “On June 20, the district collector directed the contractor to remove the excavated soil piled up near the construction site. The disaster management authority issued a similar order, and the public works minister instructed the contractor to clear the soil. None of these directives was complied with,” he said. The chief minister is scheduled to visit the disaster INSIDE Search and rescue operations under way at the landslip-hit area at the tunnel road construction site at Kalladi near Meppadi, Wayanad | Vincent Pulickal When tragedy struck A volunteer holds a child as she helps a family that was stranded on the other side of the road cross the landslip-hit area at Kalladi on Tuesday | Vincent Pulickal The disaster management authority had inspected the area and directed contractor to remove soil. The failure to comply with that order directly led to the disaster — V D Satheesan, Chief Minister site on Wednesday . The Konkan Railway Corporation has ordered an inquiry into the incident but maintained that incessant rain triggered the collapse. Dilip Buildcon said the project was being executed in strict compliance with all engineering, safety and environmental norms, approvals and protocols. The project is being executed in strict compliance with all applicable engineering, safety and environmental approvals and protocols — Dilip Buildcon Limited, the company entrusted with the work The excavated material was highly unstable, Satheesan said. Mixed with mud, it had a fragile composition and had been dumped precariously at the site. The disaster management authority had inspected the area and explicitly directed the contractor to remove the soil. The failure to comply with that order directly led to the landslip triggers calls for continuous vigil EXPRESS READ T’Puram: Nearly one in every five babies born in Kerala is underweight, according to Annual Vital Statistics Report 2024 released by the economics and statistics department recently. Adding to worries, the state has seen a rise in its proportion of underweight newborns over the years | P7 Meenakshi bridge Meppadi Meppadi -Chooralmala road Landslip area Meta blog on child abuse after govt slaps notice New Delhi: Meta on Tuesday published a detailed blog outlining measures it has taken to combat child sexual abuse material across its apps, after the government slapped a notice on it over reports of Instagram ads promoting such content | p12 down from a hillside near the tunnel work site. Amplifying the devastation, the excavated soil piled up at the site is washed away, bringing down trees and debris, and sweeping away the concrete and metal barricades. According to eyewitnesses, around 25 workers were present there at the time of the accident. A mosque, a house, a worker transit bus, a car suffer damage ‘Casualties would’ve been worse if not for weather alerts’ spot and start evacuation and rescue operations with the help of local residents. Injured taken to hospitals 11.30am: Fire and rescue services teams from Kalpetta reach the spot 12:30pm: One body recovered 2pm: NDRF team from Meenangadi arrives at the site. Two more bodies recovered by 5.30pm. the site as hazardous about 10 days earlier, no authority ensured its safety directives were enforced, they said. Echoing these concerns, Agriculture Minister T Siddique, who is also the Kalpetta MLA, condemned the systemic failures while outlining the ongoing rescue and relief opera● More on P4 tions.  ‘heavy rain, huge pile-up of debris aggravated tragedy’ India and Indonesia on Tuesday expanded their strategic partnership, with Jakarta agreeing to procure two batteries of India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system in a deal worth about $200 million, alongside Astra air-to-air missile systems, as the two countries unveiled an ambitious roadmap covering defence, maritime security critical min, erals, technology, digital connectivity and supply chains. The agreements were announced after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta during the first leg of Modi’s three-nation Indo-Pacific tour, which will also take him to Australia and New Zealand. The defence component marks another milestone in India’s push to become a major exporter of indigenous military hardware. A BrahMos battery typically comprises four launchers and 12 ready-to-fire missiles, along with command-and-control systems, support equipment and specialised vehicles, though configurations vary depending on whether the system is deployed for land attack or coastal defence. Sources said Indonesia has also decided to procure India’s P4 Pic: PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi being conferred Indonesia’s highest civilian honour by President Prabowo Subianto Astra beyond-visual-range airto-air missiles following their operational performance during Operation Sindoor. The agreements also envisage wider collaboration in defence manufacturing and technology transfers, reflecting a shift from a buyerseller relationship towards longterm industrial ties. Addressing a joint media interaction, Modi described the outcomes as a golden chapter in bilateral ties. “The growing trust between our two countries has strengthened cooperation in defence, security and the maritime domain,” he said. The two leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to a free, open and rules-based IndoPacific. President Prabowo echoed the sentiment. HC upholds death for 38 in Ahmedabad blasts case @ Ahmedabad 11.20am: Meppadi police reach the disaster, he said. Local leaders said the suspension of drilling work during the monsoon narrowly averted a far greater tragedy as more than 100 work, ers were off the site. While the contractors face immediate scrutiny, the disaster has also exposed serious lapses in official oversight. Despite the public works department flagging J ayant h J a c o b @ New Delhi D I L I P S I N G H K SH AT R I YA Tunnel project site 11am: Mound of mud slides who was watching the watchers? One in five babies in state underweight WAYAnad The landslip happened at Kalladi — around 9km from Meppadi town — where work on the KalladiAnakkampoyil tunnel road connecting Wayanad and Kozhikode districts is under way. India and Indonesia strengthen ties, sign BrahMos, Astra deals THE Gujarat High Court on Tuesday upheld the Ahmedabad Sessions Court’s ruling in the 2008 serial bomb blasts case, confirming the death sentence for 38 members of the banned Indian Mujahideen and life imprisonment for 11 others. A division bench of Justices A Y Kogje and Samir Dave rejected the appeals filed by the convicts against the capital punishment awarded by the lower court in February 2022. The HC directed the Gujarat government to pay `10 lakh to the family of every deceased victim, `5 lakh to each seriously injured survivor, and `1 lakh to those who suffered minor injuries. The compensation must be paid before March 31, 2027. The verdict comes 18 years after 21 coordinated blasts at 20 locations ripped through Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, killing 56 and injuring more than 200 people. The case remains one of India’s biggest criminal prosecutions. Out of 78 accused who faced trial, the trial court convicted 49 persons, acquitted 29, sentenced 38 to death, and awarded life imprisonment till natural death to 11 convicts. The probe into the serial blasts was unprecedented in scale. Police registered 35 FIRs, filed 548 charge sheets, produced around 6,000 documentary and material exhibits, and examined 1,163 witnesses. The Sessions Court’s judgment ran into nearly 7,000 pages, while the complete paper book exceeded 7.88 lakh pages, making it one of the largest criminal case records in India. Lawyers representing the accused said they would challenge the HC’s decision in the Supreme Court after reviewing the full judgment. 18 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Jharkhand bank’s KYC delay claims life of 75-year-old man M U K ESH R A N J A N @ Ranchi IN a tragic incident that has s p a rk e d o u t r a g e a c r o s s Jharkhand, a 75-year-old ailing man died after being repeatedly denied access to his own pension money due to pending KYC formalities at a rural bank. Ratan Lakra, a resident of Bargarh village in Garhwa dis- trict, passed away on Monday after struggling for months to withdraw funds from his account at the Bargarh branch of Jharkhand Gramin Bank. The money, primarily his government pension, was needed for urgent medical treatment. His family maintained Lakra had been making repeated trips to the bank for three months at the manager’s insistence to complete the KYC process. Even after he was brought to the branch in an auto-rickshaw, officials allegedly turned them away. His daughter-in-law, Phoolmani Lakra, said that on one occasion, the manager ordered a peon to drag them out. “My father-in-law was ill and could not get the required treatment because the bank didn’t give him his own money,” she said. Heartbroken family members and villagers staged a protest by placing Lakra’s body at the rural bank’s entrance, refusing to cremate him until action was taken. Chief Minister Hemant Soren promptly ordered an investigation. In a post on X, he directed the Garhwa Deputy Commissioner to “promptly investigate the matter, take strict action, and inform.” D C Pashupati Nath Mishra directed the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to conduct a detailed probe, and warned of action against those found guilty .