Desperate search for survivors after India landslide ‘buries entire village’

At least 16 people are dead, many injured and 109 trapped in ‘devastating’ landslide

At least 16 people died, several were injured and hundreds trapped after a massive landslide struck a village in western India’s Maharashtra state.

The incident took place early on Thursday morning and local reports said around 46 houses at Irshalwadi village in Raigad district were affected, while over 20 were submerged in the mud.

Search and rescue efforts resumed on Friday morning after they were halted on Thursday evening due to massive rainfall. The landslide occurred due to heavy rains.

News channel India Today quoted villagers as saying that, because the landslide struck early morning, several of those dead were asleep.

According to officials, the disaster site is situated atop a hill, and the challenging terrain poses significant obstacles to ongoing rescue operations.

The Maharashtra state government said around 109 people are still trapped under the debris.

Several volunteers from neighbouring districts arrived at the site to help in rescue operations.

“Ground zero presented a devastating sight – the mudslide had buried the entire village. Some families were wiped out completely,” Mohammed Hanif Hussain Karjikar, from Aapda Mitra, a volunteer organisation from nearby Khopoli city told Hindustan Times.

“We had to remove the debris manually, till teams from NDRF [India’s National Disaster Response Force] and Thane Disaster Relief Force arrived. The rain made our job difficult,” he said.

“The trail approaching the hamlet has become slippery. It takes more than one and a half hours to reach the site. Rescue teams had to walk up to the village,” said Dattatrey Nawale, deputy collector of Raigad district in Maharashtra.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde reached the spot to review the rescue operation. He gave “instructions to the administration to treat the injured citizens immediately. Options were also discussed on how to evacuate those under the rubble”.

Mr Shinde announced an aid of Rs 5 lakh (£4,700) to the families of those who died in the accident.

“The situation at the site is heart-wrenching. We tried to speak to villagers, but it is difficult to reach there,” local lawmaker Aditya Thackeray told the media.

“The rescue operations are on. We did not want to put more pressure on the state machinery by insisting to go on the exact spot.”

Survivors were in shock. “The ground shook suddenly and we ran out of our houses,” one survivor, who lost several members of his family, told the BBC.

“It [a landslide] has never happened before here. I never thought the mountain would collapse; that’s why people lived there,” said another.

“Our priority is to evacuate people from the scene and treat the injured immediately,” tweeted federal home minister Amit Shah.

Some videos shared on social media revealed mass burials of those dead in the tragedy taking place in the village.