Raigad landslide: Eyewitness says nothing left except soil and debris

There were 229 people, including 25 children up to six years of age, staying in those houses, the woman claimed, adding she was shattered by the incident. Pic/NDRF

There is nothing left except soil and debris, said a distraught man whose parents were trapped under the rubble of a massive landslide at Irshalwadi village in Maharashtra's Raigad district, reported PTI.

The landslide, which has claimed 10 lives, occurred late Wednesday night on a hilltop in Irshalwadi where the man and his four friends used to stay at night at a school located down the hill.

Narrating the horror, the man said at around 10.30 pm on Wednesday, he was sitting in the school room and chatting with his friends when he heard loud sound.

"I ran out of the school to save myself and later found there was a landslide which damaged our houses," he told PTI. "My parents are trapped under the debris. Now, nothing is left except the soil and debris at the place of my house," he said while fighting back tears. Nobody was able to come out, he said.

The man also said he has a brother, who studies in a nearby ashram (residential) school, and he is yet to hear from him. An anganwadi worker, who used to visit houses in the area, told reporters there were 45 houses at the site and 43 of them were affected by the landslide.

There were 229 people, including 25 children up to six years of age, staying in those houses, the woman claimed, adding she was shattered by the incident. An elderly woman, who came from a nearby village, in a choked voice said five members of her family were trapped under the debris of the landslide.

As the search and rescue operation was underway at the site, relatives of the landslide-affected people rushed the spot to know the whereabouts of their near and dear ones.

The village is six km from Morbe dam, which supplies water to Navi Mumbai.

Minister Uday Samant said those rescued have been admitted to a hospital in Navi Mumbai.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde reached the site and spoke to personnel engaged in rescue operations. "This village was not in the list of landslide-prone villages," he told reporters there.

"Our priority now is to rescue those still trapped beneath the rubble," he said.

The landslide occurred around 11 pm on Wednesday at Irshalwadi village in Khalapur tehsil, around 80 km from Mumbai, the official told PTI.

The village is located near Irshalgad fortress located between Matheran and Panvel. The fortress is a sister fort to Prabalgad.

Irshalwadi is a tribal village inaccessible by pucca road. Chowk village on Mumbai-Pune Highway is the nearest town.

The district administration has requested trekkers groups for help in the search and rescue operations.

This is the biggest landslide in Maharashtra after the July 30, 2014 landslide at Malin village in Ambegaon tehsil of Pune district.

That massive landslide had swallowed up almost the entire tribal village of around 50 families. The final death toll was 153 when the rescue operation was stopped. Nothing of the old village remains except for its school building.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra education department on Wednesday asked its officials in Thane, Palghar and Raigad to declare a holiday for educational institutions only after proper discussion with district collectors.

The direction came on a day when the state government declared a holiday for all schools in four districts for Thursday (July 20) amid a heavy rainfall warning in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Sandeep Sangave, Deputy Director of Education (Mumbai division), in an order said he has asked department officers, education inspectors and others concerned to announce holiday based on local conditions.

A decision on declaring holidays should be taken after discussing the issue with respective district collectors, he said in the order.

Yesterday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde declared a holiday for all schools in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, and Palghar districts for Thursday amid a heavy rainfall warning in the MMR.

(PTI)