Mumbai, July 21 (UNI) The death toll from the Irshalwadi Landslide reached 16 on Friday morning, and as many as 50 people are still missing under the debris.
The rescue operation, which was stopped in the night due to heavy rain, has started again this morning.
The unfortunate incident of landslides that took place on Wednesday night in the tribal wadi of Irshalwadi in Raigad district has also destroyed fully around 35 to 40 houses situated at the foothills of Irshalgad in Khalapur taluka of Raigad district of Maharashtra.
According to the villagers, 229 tribals belonging to 48 families lived in this small village. Some of them managed to escape, but hundreds of tribals were trapped under the mudslides.
According to Khalapur police, 103 people had been rescued from the wreckage as rescue teams rushed to the spot in just a A soldier of the Navi Mumbai fire brigade, who was going to rescue this village, died of a heart attack yesterday.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with his four cabinet colleagues, were camping the whole day yesterday and monitoring rescue operations.
More than 400 mm of rain have been recorded in Khalapur taluka of Raigad district in the past three days. Amid such heavy rains, the wadi at Irshalgad, near Chowk in Khalapur taluka, was devastated by a crack falling at around ten in the night.
The villagers have informed me that 229 residents are living in about 45 houses in Irshalwadi.
Most of the residents of the wadi had gone to sleep, while a few children were sleeping in the closed school premises nearby when the unfortunate incident took place, said a villager.
The children sleeping on the school premises near the village heard the crack and tried to run in search of their parents, he added.
Gurunath Sahilkar, a member of the Yashwanti Trekkers, first rushed to the victims in Khopoli immediately after hearing commotion and started the relief work around midnight.
After that many ambulances and social activists from Khopoli, Khalapur, Karjat also reached for relief work, said a villager.
