A massive landslide killed at least 22 people in Irshalwadi village of Raigad district in Maharashtra. The search and rescue operation to trace the 86 villagers resumed on the third day on Saturday. On July 19, a landslide occurred in a tribal village situated on a hill slope under Khalapur tehsil.
The death toll was 16 on the evening of 20 July, which went up to 22 on 21 July with the recovery of 6 more bodies. The dead included nine men, as many women and four children. Officials said nine members of the same family died in the disaster.
Search and rescue operations by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other government agencies resumed for the third day on Saturday morning, a police official said. An NDRF official said that the search operation was called off at around 6 pm on Friday due to heavy rains. “Four teams of NDRF and other agencies resumed operations this morning,” the official said. At least 17 of the 48 houses in the village located on the slopes of the hill were completely or partially buried under the debris of the landslide.
According to the Raigarh District Disaster Management Office, out of 229 village residents, 22 were killed, 10 were injured, 111 were safe and 86 persons are yet to be traced. Of the six victims whose bodies were retrieved on Friday, three were men and three were women.
Officials said the dead included four children, aged between six months and four years. A three-year-old boy and his six-month-old sister were also among the nine members of a family who died in the incident, he said. Three animals also died in the incident, while 21 animals were rescued.
Shinde government gave these orders
In view of the landslide incident, the Maharashtra government has decided to shift residents of all landslide-prone areas of the state to safer places, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told the state assembly on Friday. On July 22, 2021, 87 people lost their lives in a massive landslide in Taliye village of Mahad tehsil of Raigad district.
