Pune landslide: 109 dead, 50 more feared trapped
The dead include 44 men, 49 women and 16 children, district administration officials say
Pune: With the recovery of three more bodies from under the landslide debris at Malin village near Pune, the death toll in the calamity has climbed to 109, even as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) operation to locate possible survivors entered the sixth day on Monday amid intermittent showers.
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has issued a advice to the rescue team and district officials to evacuate the remaining houses near the landslide site.
“If it continues to rain for another 3-4 days, there is a possibility of further sliding in the adjacent portions of the landslide that has already taken place," a statement issued by the GSI said.
The 109 dead included 44 men, 49 women and 16 children, district administration officials said. Carcasses of 22 animals have also been extricated from the huge mound of mud and stones that buried about 44 houses after the landslide on 30 July, they said.
Intermittent showers continued to lash the region, hampering the movement of heavy machinery deployed by the NDRF on the marshy land, developed at the site due to rain and mud.
About 50 people are still believed to be trapped under the rubble but there is little hope of finding any survivors. Eight injured persons had earlier been pulled out to safety, officials said.
A GSI team led by director general Harbans Singh had on Sunday attributed the catastrophe to “natural causes" after visiting and inspecting the mishap site, negating the theory that levelling of soil on hill tops in some areas of the region for paddy cultivation could have been a contributory factor in the disaster.
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