Maharashtra: NDRF calls off landslide rescue operation, minister says 57 still missing

There were 228 people in the village, of which 57 are untraceable, while the bodies of 27 have been recovered, said state minister Uday Samant

Mumbai: The National Disaster Response Force on Sunday called off its search and rescue operation in Wednesday’s landslide in Irshalwadi in Maharashtra‘s Raigad district, state minister Uday Samant said.

Addressing a press conference, Samant, who is the guardian minister of Raigad, told reporters even the kin of those missing believe they are buried under the rubble and are okay with calling off the rescue operation. Nobody should crowd the landslide site as section 144 (of the Code of Criminal Procedure) has been imposed restricting movement of people, the minister said.

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More than 1,100 people, including NDRF personnel, were engaged in the search and rescue operation which lasted four days, Samant said. The decision to finally call off the operation was taken in consultation with the district administration and other concerned authorities, he added.

“There were 228 people in the village, of which 57 are untraceable, while the bodies of 27 have been recovered. Of the 43 families in the hamlet, two families perished completely, while 41 families, comprising 144 persons, have been provided shelter in a temple,” he said.

“Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed CIDCO (state-run planning authority City and Industrial Development Corporation) to build permanent homes for those affected by the landslide,” Samant told reporters. The 27 deceased include 12 men, 10 women and four children, while one corpse has not been identified as yet, they added.

At least 17 of 48 houses in the remote tribal village, which is at least an hour away from a motorable road, were fully or partially buried in the landslide that took place around 10:30 pm on July 19. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other agencies resumed the search and rescue operation for the fourth day on Sunday at Irshalwadi, some 80 kilometres from Mumbai, after calling it off the previous evening due to darkness and inclement weather.

Meanwhile, union Minister Ramdas Athawale, who visited the site of the landslide in Khalapur tehsil, on Sunday said each affected family must be given three acres of land.