Shiva Joshi, Pune
At least 22 people have died due to the large landslide that buried Irshalwadi, a steep tribal community in the Khalapur tehsil of Maharashtra’s Raigad district, two days ago. There are still reportedly around 100 people captive. On Thursday night, there were 16.
Rescue efforts were halted by the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) on Friday evening; they will start up again on Saturday.
“We suspended the rescue operations on Friday evening and will resume on Saturday morning. We recovered six bodies from the debris today. While the death toll was 16 yesterday, it shot up to 22 today,” Deepak Tiwari, a senior NDRF officer, told the Indian Express.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Friday that the tribal community had 228 residents and 48 families. “Roughly 17 to 18 homes have crumbled. Throughout the rescue effort, 98 people have been saved safely. The remaining 109 of the 228 people are being traced, according to Shinde, who also noted that Irshalwadi was not on the list of locations that may be susceptible to fissures, according to the Geological Survey of India (GSI).
A significant landslide hit Irshalwadi on Wednesday evening. The Irshalgad fort, a well-liked weekend trekking destination, lies close to the settlement. According to reports, most people are members of the Thakur Adivasi group and have lived in the region for many years.
“Since yesterday (Thursday), four teams of NDRF have been involved in the search operations. Even today, we will divide the 200×200 meters landslide-affected area into zones. With the help of local people, we are trying to retrieve bodies. Various other agencies have joined us in the rescue operation,” S B Singh, Commandant, 5 Battalion, NDRF, said in a statement on Friday.
According to officials involved in the rescue operations, the narrow trail going up to the Irshalwadi hamlet, lousy weather, and muddy approach had delayed them significantly. “Heavy equipment like JCBs can extract the 20–25 feet of landslide debris that is present. We have been manually excavating because the roads are slippery and congested, an NDRF employee who requested anonymity said.
Authorities, residents, and hikers who worked together in the rescue efforts had little hope of discovering survivors. They stated that the village was entirely buried by the mountain that fell, leaving no trace of it.
Ram Pardhi (35), who owns a store on the foothills of the mountain that rises to Irshalwadi, was one of the first people to assist in the rescue efforts. He said that the accident had cost him 25 family members and friends. “Around 11 pm, the individuals above called to tell me about the tragedy. I took a 15-minute hike up to the village. Strong winds and rain fell. I could see rocks sliding down the slope and trees falling,” he told the reporters.
Rescue efforts were underway as difficulties grew, and people had given up on locating survivors, according to the NDRF, teams from the SDRF, and Thane Disaster Response Force.