Twelve people were killed after a massive landslide at a village in Maharashtra's Raigad district, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Thursday. The landslide occurred around 11 pm on Wednesday at Irshalwadi village in Khalapur tehsil, around 80 km from Mumbai, an official said.
The incident took place after torrential rains in the area. Shinde reached the site in the morning to take stock of the situation and spoke to personnel engaged in rescue operations.
So far, 12 dead bodies have been recovered by search and rescue teams. As many as 103 people have been identified who were living there. Some of them were out for work in paddy fields and some children had gone to residential schools. Search for them is on, he said.
The state government is making all efforts to carry out the rescue and relief operations in the area, he added. This village was not in the list of landslide-prone villages, Shinde told reporters there. Our priority now is to rescue those still trapped beneath the rubble, he said.
This is very unfortunate incident and the state government stands with the affected people, the CM said. We will soon take steps to carry out proper rehabilitation of the landslide-affected villagers. I have spoken to the divisional commissioner and district collector and discussed about permanent rehabilitation of these villagers immediately. We are doing it on a war-footing, Shinde said.