Raigad tragedy: NDRF calls off operation, says minister; no body found on Sunday, toll stays at 27

The multi-agency search and rescue (S&R) operations at the July 19 Irshalwadi landslide tragedy site have been called off, as the possibility of finding survivors in the debris is bleak.

So far 27 bodies have been retrieved from the debris during the four-day-long operation.

Fifty-seven persons are reported missing and are presumed dead.

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The decision to call off the operation on Monday was taken after discussions among the S&R agencies, the Raigad district administration and local villagers.

The Irshalwadi village is located on the slopes of Irshalgad hill in the Khalapur tehsil of Raigad district.

“As per our records, there were 43 houses with 228 total residents. The rescue teams have recovered 27 bodies while 57 are missing. We have around 144 persons staying in the relief camp,” Raigad district’s guardian minister Uday Samant told reporters on Sunday after visiting the site.

Of these 144 persons, 21 persons were rescued alive while the rest 123 came down on their own.

Teams of the NDRF and the SDRF have ruled out the possibility of survivors in the debris.

As of now, the villagers are being put up near a location off the Diamond Petrol Pump in Khalapur.

Shipping containers are being used as temporary accommodation and officials said these have all the basic facilities.

On being asked about the permanent relocation of the affected, Samant said that as guardian minister he is promising that it would be taken care of at the earliest. “We will speak to the affected villagers, the local representatives and it will be done at the earliest,” he said.

The bodies that were retrieved include 12 men, 10 women and four children, while one corpse has not been identified as of yet. “The last body that was recovered was in a decomposed state,” he said.