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Pune village landslide: 27 dead, 200 missing

by IBNS 31 Jul 2014, 06:41 am

Pune, July 31 (IBNS) The death toll in the landslide in Maharashtra's Ambegaon village touched 27 while eight were rescued alive even as more are feared dead and trapped under the debris, said rescue officials on Thursday.

Rescue operation by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) continued even as rainfall made their job difficult in the mud and slush and debris from the landslide.

At least 200 are still missing in the landslide that hit the area a day ago.

Alok Awasthy, Commandant, NDRF, at the site, said 23 were dead, while later the toll rose with more bodies being recovered.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh are likely to visit the spot.
 
The village is located about 120 km from Pune. The landslide swept away at least 40 houses on the hillside.

Officials said the landslide occurred at around 10:45 AM yesterday.

Heavy rains have lashed the area.

At least seven teams of the National Disaster Response Force reached the incident spot on Wednesday soon after the disaster struck. Later two more teams of NDRF which were prepositioned at Andheri Sport Complex, Mumbai for pre-monsoon deployment were mobilised. The total
strength of nine teams is 378 trained personnel who are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and communication sets.

Alok Awasthy, Commandant, and  Varghese P G, second-in-command, are supervising the operations.

Two Un-Armed-Vehicles (UAVs) with its pilot were also directed to rush to spot to help in the on-going rescue work. Six teams of NDRF at Gandhinagar are also kept as stand by for further deployment.
 
 President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have condoled the loss of lives in the landslide which was triggered by heavy rains  in the district.

The Ministry of Home Affairs earlier tweeted: "The Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh is leaving for Pune this evening. He will visit the landslide affected village of Malin in Maharashtra."

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi also mourned the loss of lives in the tragedy.