Raigad landslide: Scant hopes of finding loved ones alive, survivors left with no roof over their head

Bhagwan Bhawar, 25, one of the survivors who lived in Irshalwadi, lost five of his other family members, including his wife, four-year-old son, brother, brother’s wife and brother’s child.

“Since it was raining throughout Wednesday, most of us were at home and slept early. I heard a loud sound around 10.30-10.45pm. My wife woke me up and we ran towards the house door when a huge rock fell on her… I was thrown away… I screamed for help and my father rushed to pull me out. We could not save the others,” Bhagwan said. He lived along with his eight family members at Riswadi, a nearby village for most of the year, with the adults working as farmer labourers.

“As the harvesting was done, they left for their homes just a day ago on Tuesday. After he reached, Bhagwan even sent me videos of the rain from Irshalwadi. We learnt of the incident on the news and began calling them up but could not get through to them,” said Sanket Jadhav, on whose farm the Bhawar family worked. Jadhav visited MGM Hospital in Panvel trying to find the family and finally located Bhagwan at the health centre in Chouk.

Some survivors recalled that they felt like a helicopter was approaching, while others claimed the landslide felt like earthquake or uprooting of a tree. “I don’t know what happened, whether it was the rain or the wind. We heard sounds, it felt like some helicopter was approaching,” said Ragi Pardhi, whose family had been engaged in farming in Irshalwadi for generations.

“We cultivated Nachni and Wari among other crops. Now, I’ve lost my husband’s family, my own family members, my friends and my neighbours,” added Ragi.

Survivors like Ragi are now stranded with nowhere to go. Another survivor Bharti Pardhi said, “We lost our homes and our grains. We are sitting here now at the others’ homes but how long will we live like this for. We have lost everything.” Pardhi lived in a joint family of 10 members and was not even aware of how many people from her family had been buried, until Thursday afternoon.

While some of the survivors sought shelter in the homes of the locals residing in the foothills, some have been relocated to an ashram nearby, said a district administration official. On Thursday evening, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tweeted, “Fifty containers will be arranged at the foothills for the temporary rehabilitation of these villagers and they will also be permanently rehabilitated.”

Among the survivors were also seven young boys of the village who had gathered to sleep on the school premises. “We ate around 8 pm and then the electricity went off. Most of us went to sleep soon after. My friends and I usually go to sleep in the school that is vacant. We were playing on the phone when the landslide struck. I managed to escape but my parents are missing,” said Ananta, 19. As Irshalwadi does not have any schools, most children of the village go to nearby ashram schools to study. Several of them lost members of their families in the incident.

Among the first rescuers was Parshuram Nirguda, a resident of a Varose village in Thakurwadi — a two-hour Trek from Irshalwadi. He said that he received a call around 11pm Wednesday from a relative about the landslide. “The moment I received the call, 7-10 of us left our homes with torches to the village for rescue work. The authorities were also alerted. We reached around 1am. My in-laws’ home was at the edge of the village. Once we reached there, we heard a man scream, ‘mala vachva, mala vachva (save me)’. We saw a man under a pile of wooden sheets which was part of the house that collapsed. He was my wife’s uncle, Yashwant Dhore,” Nirguda said.

A woman whose family members are trapped under rubble wails after a landslide washed away houses in Raigad district, western Maharashtra state, India, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo)

While some were pulling out Dhore from the rubble, Nirguda said he went ahead using torches to find his in-laws. “I began screaming, asking if anyone was around. I found my brother-in-law, Pravin Pardhi. He was trapped under the collapsed home,” Nirguda said. Both Pravin (21) and Dhore (37) were rescued, he said, adding it took around 30-40 minutes to clear the rubble and bring them out.

Pravin, who worked as a labourer in nearby areas, lost his parents and brother. Dhore, too, lost his family members.

Nirguda said that it was still pouring and they thought it would be risky to continue being at Irshalgad and began walking down the hill. “We are used to trekking to the village even during medical emergencies, including taking women in labour to hospitals. We brought Pravin down on our back, while Yashwant was carried on a stretcher by fire personnel,” Nirguda said.

The two were first taken to a primary health centre at Chouk and then brought to MGM Hospital in Panvel for further treatment. While Dhore has a hip injury, Pardhi suffered head injuries. Hospital authorities said that they are stable and out of danger and would be discharged after 24-hour observation.

Survivors said that all they could see was a flat surface where the village stood. Residents of the village were mostly tribals who either worked as labourers or farmers in the nearby villages or were involved in tourism-related activities for trekkers climbing till the Irshalgad fort. The village, which was the last spot before undertaking another hour-long journey uphill, was a preferred place for snacks, villagers said.

Dr Shyam Kadam from the Raigad Zilla Parishad’s Animal Husbandry department said that three bulls were also buried till Thursday afternoon. “We are treating 10 goats and five bulls who were injured. The treatment is being carried out under very adverse conditions. No dogs have been injured. But there is a high possibility of more animals are buried in the debris,” said Kadam.