The landslide occurred on Wednesday night at Irshalwadi village in Khalapur tehsil of Raigad in Maharashtra, around 80 km from Mumbai
The NDRF said that the operations will resume on Friday morning. Pic/Satej Shinde
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Thursday evening said that it has called off the operations for the day and will resume the rescue and relief operations on Friday morning.
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In a statement, the NDRF said, "Owing to continued heavy rainfall plus threat of further landslides in the dark, operations have been called off after consultation of the local administration. The operations will resume on Friday morning at 0500 hrs."
It further said, "In the operations on Thursday, 16 dead bodies were recovered and 21 people were rescued alive."
The landslide occurred on Wednesday night at Irshalwadi village in Khalapur tehsil of Raigad in Maharashtra, around 80 km from Mumbai.
The incident took place after torrential rains in the area.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde reached the site in the morning to take stock of the situation and spoke to personnel engaged in rescue operations.
The state government is making all efforts to carry out the rescue and relief operations in the area, he added.
"Our priority now is to rescue those still trapped beneath the rubble, he said, the PTI reported.
This is very unfortunate incident and the state government stands with the affected people, the CM said.
There is continuous heavy rainfall and the debris and rubble has mounted up to 15 to 20 feet, he said.
CM Shinde said authorities were not able to move the machinery for the rescue operation.
Two helicopters have been kept ready for the operation, but they have not been able to take-off due to the bad weather, he said.
Four NDRF teams along with local authorities were engaged in the rescue work, an official said.
Fire brigade and some local trekkers were also helping in the rescue operation, he said.
The village has around 50 houses, of which 17 were buried under the landslide, the official said.
Rescue teams from neighbouring Thane were also sent to the spot, as per the authorities.
The village is six km from Morbe dam, which supplies water to Navi Mumbai. It 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.
This is the biggest landslide in Maharashtra after the July 30, 2014 landslide at Malin village in Ambegaon tehsil of Pune district.
(with PTI inputs)
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