Raigad
Mumbai/UNI: After an overnight pause, the search and rescue operation for the over hundred missing victims in the Raigad hillside tragedy resumed on Friday morning.
Teams of the NDRF, SDRF, Fire Brigade, and other local agencies reached the 550-metre Irshalgad Fort hill, a portion of which broke loose and buried a part of the tribal hamlet Irshalwadi nestled below.
The rescue operation was hampered owing to the inclement weather conditions in the hilly regions, and even a proposed aerial operation by IAF helicopters could not be taken up on Thursday.
Today, the teams have made arrangements for radio (walky-talky) communication as mobile phones are erratic there, an improvement over yesterday, and work started among foggy and wet conditions on the remote, inaccessible hilly terrain.
Several cranes, JCBs, poclains, Bobcats, debris removal trucks, and other sophisticated machines have reached here from Mumbai, Panvel, and other towns but await deployment.
Yesterday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was himself leading the rescue operation, while Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve, President Nana Patole, cabinet ministers, and top police and civil officials were also present to oversee the rescue mission.
So far, 16 people have been killed, 21 have been rescued, and another 100 or more are still missing on Wednesday pre-midnight tragedy that shocked the nation.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
