Raigad landslide: NDRF calls off search op, says minister; 81 still missing

The National Disaster Response Force has finally called of its search-and-rescue operation in Wednesday's landslide in Irshalwadi in Maharashtra's Raigad district, state minister Uday Samant said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, Samant, who is guardian minister of Raigad, said the decision was taken in consultation with the district administration and other concerned authorities as well as local residents

So far, 27 bodies have been recovered while 57 are untraceable, officials said, adding that no body was found from the debris on Sunday.

These 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 10:30pm on July 19.

The NDRF and other agencies resumed the search and rescue operation for the fourth day on Sunday at Irshalwadi village. 

According to an NDRF official, no body was recovered so far after the search and rescue operation resumed in the morning.

The death toll in the landslide mounted to 27 on Saturday while 81 persons are yet to be traced, officials earlier said

The landslide at the tribal village, situated on a hill slope under Khalapur tehsil that is located around 80 km from Mumbai, occurred on Wednesday night.

At least 17 of 48 houses in the village were fully or partially buried under the landslide debris, officials said.

The search and rescue operation was called off on Saturday night due to bad light and inclement weather and resumed on Sunday morning.

The rescue operation is being carried out manually as earth movers and excavators could not be easily moved to the village in the absence of a pucca road.

Of the 27 bodies recovered so far, 12 are women, 10 men and four children, while one person is unidentified, officials said.

Nine members of a family had perished in the disaster, they said.

On Saturday, Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray met residents of Irshalwadi.

He said people living in landslide-prone areas in Maharashtra should be moved to safer locations.

"Not just Irsahlwadi. All such localities should be rehabilitated in nearby villages or areas," he said.

The former chief minister said he had planned a scheme to rehabilitate villages residing in landslide-prone areas to safer places.