Raigad landslide: Navi Mumbai fire officer dies of cardiac arrest while trekking to the spot

A glimpse of the search and rescue operations at the landslide site in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)

Attached to the Belapur fire station of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Dhumne who was the Assistant Station Officer, was one of the first respondents who set out for the village after the news of the landslide broke. The team from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation set off from Navi Mumbai around 1 am and reached the closest motorable road to Irshalwadi at 3 am.

“After reaching the base station, we realised that we had to trek for around two hours to reach the spot. As the trek was steep, Dhumne, who was one of the senior fire officers in the group, called everyone and enquired about their health before beginning the trek,” said an official who was part of the team. However, after an hour of trekking, Dhumne complained of uneasiness and collapsed. “I was ahead and one of the accompanying fire officers called me after which the team attended to Dhumne. There were doctors as well, who checked him there and told us that his heart and pulse had stopped,” said the official.

NDRF rescue operations underway in Raigad. (Express photo)

Dhumne was subsequently carried down and rushed to a hospital nearby, where he was declared dead before admission.

“A postmortem was conducted after which his body was handed over to his family members… the final rites were conducted at his native place in Khopoli around 2pm,” said an official.

Dhumne, who joined the NMMC fire brigade over two decades ago, was staying with his family at the quarters in CBD Belapur at Navi Mumbai. The officials said that Dhumne was fit and had never complained of any cardiac issues in the past.

Image from the base camp; landslide site is over two hours away wherein teams of rescuers are trekking. (Express photo)

Many of the rescuers said that reaching the village itself was a huge challenge due to its location.

“It is difficult to bring in 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,” said SB Singh, Commandant of the fifth battalion of the NDRF.

Rural Development Minister Girish Mahajan who trekked to the village said that reaching the village was a task. “No JCB, crane or truck can reach the spot. It is even difficult to take a motorcycle there. The only approach as a narrow vertical pathway that is difficult to climb. The relief and rescue attempts were severely hindered due to the location of the village and incessant rain,” Mahajan said, adding only extremely fit people could easily reach the spot.