By Chris Thomas, Munsif Vengattil, Jose Devasia

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (Reuters) -Landslides swept through tea estates in southern India's Kerala state on Tuesday, killing at least 44 people as hillsides collapsed after heavy rain and sent rivers of mud and water on homes of workers and villagers.

Television pictures showed relief personnel making their way through rocks and uprooted trees as muddy water gushed through, with many houses destroyed. One man was seen struggling to free himself after being stuck in chest-high mud for hours, as rescue workers were not able to reach him despite multiple efforts.

The hillsides gave way after midnight as workers and their families slept in the Wayanad district of Kerala, a state renowned as one of India's most popular tourist destinations.

It is the worst disaster there since 2018 when heavy floods killed almost 400 people.

State cabinet minister M B Rajesh told ANI news agency that at least 44 people were killed and 250 had been shifted to temporary shelters, but rescue efforts were hampered due to the collapse of a bridge. Also, more rain was predicted through the day.

"We fear the gravity of this tragedy is much more. Rescue operations are being carried out by various agencies on a war footing," Rajesh said.

Nearly 350 families lived in the affected region, mostly tea and cardamom estates, a source at the district collector's office told Reuters.

Army engineers were roped in to help build an alternate bridge after the one that linked the affected area to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed, the Kerala chief minister's office said in a statement.

Visuals from ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed workers continuing relief work amid uprooted trees and flattened tin structures as huge boulders lay strewn at the site with muddy water gushing through.

Rashid Padikkalparamban, a resident involved in the relief efforts, said there were at least three landslides in the area starting around midnight, which washed away the bridge connecting the Mundakkai estates to Chooralmala.

"Many people who were working in the estates and staying in makeshift tents inside are feared trapped or missing," he said.

Rescue operations were hampered as the area was not reachable by road because of the bridge collapse, Mohsen Shahedi, a senior National Disaster Response Force officer told Reuters.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who won the recently-contested general election from Wayanad, but resigned as he was also elected from his family bastion in the north, said he had spoken to the state chief minister to ensure coordination with all agencies.

"The devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking," he said in a message on X. "I have urged the union government to extend all possible support"

(Reporting by Jose Devasia, Chris Thomas, Munsif Vengatill and Sudipto Ganguly, writing by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Raju Gopalakrishnan)