27 bodies recovered, 57 remain missing as search operations end at India landslide site

New Delhi, Jul 24 (EFE).- The search and rescue operations after a landslide that buried a village in western India ended on Monday with authorities recovering 27 bodies, while another 57 people who remain missing are presumed dead.

“The final toll is 27 dead, while 144 people from 43 families were rescued and 57 remain missing,” a spokesperson of Yogesh Mhase, the district collector of Raigad in the western state of Maharashtra, told EFE.

Days of heavy rain triggered the landslide in a small village of about 225 people in the Raigad district.

Around midnight on Jul. 19, a massive landslide caused by the rains buried around 15 houses in the village, while damaging the entire hamlet.

Unfavorable weather conditions and the difficult access to the village complicated the rescue operations run by the National Disaster Response Force and other local agencies.

The displaced residents have been housed at a resettlement camp and local authorities have decided to relocate the survivors on public land elsewhere – which is less susceptible to landslides – instead of rebuilding the village, Mhase’s office said.

Heavy rainfall has led to the evacuation of over 11,000 people over the past week from four districts of Maharashtra, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told the regional parliament on Thursday.

Several northern Indian states have also been affected by downpours in recent weeks, which left nearly 150 people dead and thousands trapped, while also leaving parts of the country’s capital under water.

Rains cause significant personal and material damage in South Asian countries especially during the monsoon period between May and September. EFE

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