MUMBAI (Reuters) – Rescue teams resumed a search on Friday for possible survivors of a massive landslide in western India that killed 16 people and was suspected to have trapped more than a 100.
Thick fog and heavy rain hampered already difficult rescue efforts even further on Friday, Indian television news channels said, more than a day after the incident occurred at midnight on Thursday.
Land gave way in the middle of the night in the remote mountain hamlet of Irshalwadi in the state of Maharashtra, about 60 km (37 miles) from Mumbai, flattening several houses and trapping many who lived there.
Rescue workers recovered 16 bodies before night fell on Thursday and local authorities advised they suspend the search, Director General of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Atul Karwal, told Reuters.
“It is not possible to look for people in the dark in such terrain,” he said, adding he remained hopeful more could be found alive.
On Friday, news channels showed visuals of rescue teams, wearing bright orange raincoats and carrying digging tools, trekking up the mountain to the site of the landslide.
It was estimated that at least 225 people lived in the hamlet, Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister, told the state assembly on Thursday, adding over 80 had managed to escape. More than 100 people were feared trapped in the debris, media said.
A wave of extreme heat, wildfires, torrential rain and flooding has wreaked havoc around the world in recent days, raising new fears about the pace of climate change.
(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
