With a day-long respite from rain, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel speeded up their work and extricated as many as 21 bodies from under the debris and slush of Wednesday’s landslide, at Malin in Pune district of Western Maharashtra on Sunday, taking the toll in the natural disaster to 103.
“As of 6.22 pm today (Sunday), we have recovered 103 bodies from under the debris of the landslide at Malin. We are continuing our operation,” Pune-based Commandant of NDRF Alok Awasthi told The Pioneer over telephone in the evening.According to Awasthi, the break-up of bodies extricated from the under the landslide debris is : 47 men, 45 women, 13 children. Besides, the rescuers have recovered carcasses of 22 animals.
“Ever since our operation began on Wednesday, we have rescued eight persons. They comprise: three men, three women, a famale child and a baby boy,” Awasthi said.The Pune district officials apprehend that there are still 47 persons trapped under the debris. “The chances of their survival are very slim,” a senior official said,
The landslide, which occurred at around 6 am on Wednesday, had crushed as many as 66 properties, including 45 households, in Malin village.Malin, which forms a part of the Bhimshankar Hills, has incidentally has been identified as one of the eco-sensitive villages in Western Ghat by a High level Working Group (HlWG) headed by Dr K Kasturirangan.