Canine squad carried rescue operation at Irshalwadi hamlet in Maharashtra's Raigad district, where a massive landslide claimed the lives of at least 22 people.
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. The death toll till Thursday evening was 16, which went up to 22 on Friday as six more bodies were recovered. The deceased included nine men, as many women and four children. Nine members of a family perished in the disaster, officials have said.
We carried out a search and rescue operation with three of our dogs and one of our dogs detected two bodies today. We are facing many challenges and are unable to take our latest machinery to the (landslide-hit) site, says an NDRF official.
At least 17 of 48 houses in the village, located on a hill slope, were fully or partially buried under the landslide debris. As per the Raigad district disaster management office, of 229 village residents, 22 were dead, 10 were injured, 111 were safe and 86 persons were yet to be traced.