The death toll in the landslide at Irshalwadi hamlet in Maharashtra’s Raigad district reached 26 on Saturday with the search and rescue teams recovering four more bodies from the debris, an official said.
Search and rescue work is still underway as 82 persons are yet to be traced. The deceased whose bodies were recovered on Saturday were identified as Mahi Madhu Tirkad (32), Aashi Pandurang (50), Bharati Madhu Bhutabra (18) and Kishan Tirkad (27).
The landslide at the tribal village, situated on a hill slope under Khalapur tehsil, occurred on Wednesday night.
The search operation was suspended around 6 PM on Friday due to heavy rains, an NDRF official said.
“Four NDRF teams and other agencies resumed the operation this morning,” he said. This is the third day of the rescue operations.
At least 17 of 48 houses in the village, located on a hill slope, were fully or partially buried under the landslide debris.
According to the Raigad district disaster management office, of 229 village residents, 22 were dead, 10 were injured, 111 were safe and 86 persons were yet to be traced.
Among the deceased whose bodies were pulled out on Friday, three were men and three women, and four children, all aged between six months to four years, are among the deceased, officials said.
As the village, overlooked by Irshalgad fort, a popular trekking destination, does not have a pucca road, earth movers and excavators could not be easily moved and the rescue operation is being carried out manually, officials said.
As many as 60 containers have been requisitioned to be used as transit camps for the survivors and 40 of them have already reached the location, a release issued on Friday by the office of the Deputy Director of Publicity, Konkan division, said. In addition, 20 temporary toilets and an equal number of bathrooms have been prepared at the site.
In the wake of the landslide incident, the Maharashtra government has decided to shift residents of all landslide-prone areas in the state to safer locations, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told the state legislative assembly on Friday. Irshalwadi hamlet was not on the list of landslide-prone areas, he said.
(With PTI inputs)