Raigad landslide: Muddy routes and inclement weather slow down rescue ops

Officials engaged in the rescue operations claimed that the muddy route, inclement weather and narrow pathway leading upto Irshalwadi hamlet had slowed them down.

Deepak Tiwari, a senior official of NDRF The Indian Express, , “Four teams of NDRF have been engaged in the operations wherein we faced difficulty owing to the heavy downpour. Besides this, there is also a possibility of another landslide owing to the continuous showers.”

According to rescuers, the bodies recovered from underneath the debris were being buried on the hilltop.

The narrow route leading upto the Irshalwadi hamlet is laden with thick mud, preventing heavy machinery such as JCBs which could have fast tracked the rescue works, to reach the spot. In the absence of the machines, the rescuers resorted to manual excavation. “One entire portion of the mountain had slid. The debris was so thick that it has engulfed everything”, said Datta Navle, a NDRF worker,

Another worker of the NDRF, on condition of anonymity, said, “The debris from the landslide was 10-25 feet deep. We could not even locate where people had been buried. Several locals of the village who were present on the hilltop pointed us where their houses used to be. On the basis of their directions, we started excavating and locating the buried victims.”

In addition to NDRF, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and a team of Thane Disaster relief force (TDRF) comprising 15 members were also deployed.

“We were helped by the knowledge of the locals who knew exactly where their family members slept at night. For example, one of the villagers pointed towards his kitchen where his grandmother would sleep at night. We would then excavate that spot and find the victims,” said Sachin Dube, a senior official of the TDRF.

Several local trekking groups as well as independent companies joined hands with the government officials.