India: Five dead, some trapped, in landslide in Maharashtra after heavy rain

Mumbai, India

At least five people lost their lives and many others were feared trapped after a mountain village was hit by a landslide in India's western state of Maharashtra after the region was soaked by incessant rain, said the state officials on Thursday (July 20).

The landslide took place in the middle of the night in Irshalwadi, a small mountain village around 60 km from Mumbai, stated media reports citing officials.

"A total of 48 families lived there. Around 75 people have been evacuated and five people have died so far," said Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Twitter.

According to initial reports, around 100 people have been trapped under the debris and efforts are being made by the rescue workers to find survivors in heavy rain as relatives of the victims wait at the base of the mountain for news of their safety. 

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"The problem here is that at some places the rubble is almost 20 to 30 feet deep and it has to be manually removed," said an unidentified rescue official, while speaking to ABP Majha channel.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Industries Minister Uday Samant said that search operations are going on and 75 people have been rescued so far.

“The incident occurred at 10:30 in the night at a place adjoining Irsalgad in Raigad district. It is a very remote inaccessible area which is hampering rescue attempts. As of now 4 people have died and 25 people have been rescued. More people are feared to be trapped and NDRF and district administration is making attempts to rescue people,” said Minister Samant. 

Around 15-20 houses buried under debris 

The NDRF informed that the landslide has buried more than 15-20 houses under the debris. 

“Of the total 40 houses in the village, 17 have been affected. We have deployed four teams to conduct the rescue operations. The debris at some of the places is 10 to 29 feet deep. It is difficult to bring heavy machinery to this place. It is a 2.8 km trek to reach the spot and we have to remove the debris manually which is likely to take a lot of time. While we are facing difficulties, we will continue our operations till we retrieve the last person,” said SB Singh, Commandant of the fifth battalion of the NDRF, speaking to The Indian Express. 

Maharashtra's Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was present at the site, while speaking to the reporters said that the officials were not able to figure the exact number of people trapped.

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Across the Indian state of Maharashtra, schools were closed due to incessant rains, trains were disrupted and roads were flooded.

On Thursday, all the colleges and schools were closed in the financial capital of Mumbai. The officials suspended some train services on Wednesday after the city was lashed by the rain.

More than 100 mm of rain was recorded by several districts in the state on Wednesday as more heavy showers have been predicted in the next 24 hours, as per the weather department.

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