National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Deputy Inspector General (DIG) S. S. Guleria confirmed on Thursday that so far 25 bodies have been recovered and eight people have been rescued in Pune's Malin village, where a landslide had occurred yesterday due to heavy rainfall.
He also said that nine teams of the NDRF are deployed in the area, but added that around 150 to 160 people are still feared trapped.
"Upon getting the requisition we had immediately mobilized our teams from the Pune battalion. At present nine teams of NDRF are mobilized there. The total strength of our team is 371 personnel and all are fully trained and equipped with communication systems. The search and rescue operations are still on. Search dogs are also present there. They have rescued eight people and 25 bodies have been recovered until now," said Guleria.
"Around 150 to 160 persons are feared trapped. We are facing many problems on ground. It is raining heavily there. In this type of operation there is a lot of mud; it requires time to remove the mud. We need to be very careful," he added.
Yesterday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had said that that out of the population of 715 in Ambegaon village around 44 houses were swept away in the landslide.
Guleria also informed that seven NDRF teams are deployed in various parts of Uttarakhand where a cloud burst earlier this morning in Ghansali block of its Tehri's district claimed three lives.