Teams of the NDRF and other agencies have left the landslide spot at Irshalwadi in Maharashtra's Raigad district after calling off the search and rescue operation and local police are now guarding the site, officials said on Monday.
During the four-day search and rescue operation involving 1,100 people including NDRF personnel following the landslide on Wednesday, 27 bodies were recovered while 57 people are untraceable, state minister Uday Samant said on Sunday.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) called of its search and rescue operation on Sunday, he said. Even the kin of those missing believe they are buried under the rubble and are okay with calling off the rescue operation, Samant, who is the guardian minister of Raigad, told reporters.
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According to an NDRF official, after the search and rescue operation was called off, their team and other agencies left the place, and a base camp set up there was also removed.
A senior police official from Raigad district said, "We have deployed an officer and three constables to guard the landslide spot. The team will guard the spot during the day time." Samant on Sunday said nobody should crowd the landslide site as section 144 (of Code of Criminal Procedure) has been imposed restricting the movement of people.
The decision to finally call off the operation was taken in consultation with the district administration and other authorities concerned, he said. "There were 228 people in the village, of whom 57 are untraceable, while bodies of 27 have been recovered. Of the 43 families in the hamlet, two families perished completely, while 41 families, comprising 144 persons, have been provided shelter in a temple," the minister said.
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At least 17 of 48 houses in the remote tribal village, which is at least an hour away from a motorable road and located on a hill slope around 80 km from Mumbai, were fully or partially buried in the landslide.
