MUMBAI: Incessant rains across the state of Maharashtra have caused a devastating late-night calamity at a hilly tribal village of Irshalwadi in Raigad district's Khalapur tehsil near Karjat situated about 75 kilometres from Mumbai as a massive landslide came down on a hamlet of about 50 houses. 

The landslide which has flattened nearly half the houses in the village has so far claimed the lives of at least 16 people while nearly 100 others are still feared trapped under debris even as dozens of personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other local agencies like the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), firefighters etc are leading rescue operations at the site. 

According to locals the unexpected landslide which would have triggered due to torrential rains in the hilly region above the village, occurred suddenly a little after 11 pm on Wednesday night and before anyone could understand several houses in the hamlet were buried under masses of rock, earth and debris moving down the slop in a massive force.  Dozens of people including children and cattle that were reared by many in the village were engulfed in the debris of trees, wet mud, and stones gushing down forcefully with rainwater.  

One of the locals said that the landslide happened so suddenly and rapidly that no one had the time to escape and since it was nighttime and the village is situated in a rather remote location, it did not immediately attract the attention of people from the neighbouring hamlets, although people tried to help those affected till the first set of rescue personnel arrived at about 2 in the morning. 

The major hurdle in reaching the affected village was the lack of proper road and other infrastructure, in fact, it was very difficult to move machinery and other relief material since it's a walking track up to the site which has turned slippery and dangerous due to the rains. The rescue team had to clear the path for machinery like a bobcat skid steer, cutters, and excavating types of equipment to be put in use for relief operations. 

While rescue personnel have recovered 16 bodies from the debris (8 male and 8 female including 4 children among them) so far, it is feared that as more debris is cleared, the recovery of more dead people cannot be ruled out. Locals say over a  dozen people from the hamlet including some children are still missing and not accounted for. 

Meanwhile, as Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was on his way to visit the accident site along with his cabinet colleagues, on the other hand as the Maharashtra monsoons assembly session is in progress Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made a statement that, the landslide killed 16 people and scores of people were feared trapped. He also said that 48 families were living in the village and it was not on the list of landslide-prone villages and had no history of landslides. 

Fadnavis also said that two teams of the NDRF comprising 60 jawans, teams of SDRF, trained trekkers, other government officials and over 1,000 workers equipped with the requisite machinery have been sent to Irshalgad (Raigad) and are engaged in the rescue operation.

It has been raining almost nonstop in the region and the district of Raigad has received staggering about 400 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours.

The hamlet situated on the foothill of Irshalwadi Fort is a popular trekking site and some of the trekkers who had camped for tracking had joined in the relief operations giving a helping hand to the disaster rescue team. Some of them have also installed their camping equipment like tents, torches etc for those who are left without their houses.