Pune landslide: Death toll reaches 50, 130 missing

mangaloretoday.com/ IT

Pune, August 1: The toll in a landslide disaster in Pune’s Malin village touched 50, with another 22 injured, an official said on Friday.

"So far we have recovered 50 bodies. The relief and rescue work continues on a war-footing," Pune Collector Saurabh Rao, who is monitoring the situation round-the-clock said.

 

 

 

As many as 44 houses were crushed in Malin village,  in Western Maharashtra, by the massive landslide that occurred on Wednesday morning.

It has also come to light that around two dozen people were sleeping on a platform of the village temple premises in Malin and they may have been washed away in the adjacent river.

A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has started a combing operation along the banks of the river, now in a spate due to incessant rains, to search for victims or survivors.

Braving all odds, the relief and rescue teams continued to search for survivors or bodies of the estimated 130 people who are still feared trapped under the debris, though chances of any more survivors appeared bleak.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and former union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar visited Malin and supervised the ongoing search operations on Thursday.

Scores of JCB machines, dumpers and ambulances have been pressed into service to clear the rubble and shift the dead and survivors to hospitals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had On Wednesday condoled the loss of lives in the tragedy and asked Singh to rush to Pune to take stock of the situation.

Meanwhile, heavy rains accompanied by strong winds lashed Malin and surrounding areas since early Friday, slowing down the rescue work.