63 bodies have been recovered so far in landslide that effaced the remote village of Malin in Pune district as the outlook to find any survivors grew grimmer by the hour.
Of the deceased, 10 were children, 28 were women and 25 were men, with a significant proportion of youths among them, said district authorities on Friday.
More than 120 people are estimated to be trapped in the slush and debris.
Around 350 National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) jawans, joined by medical officers and fire brigade personnel have been tirelessly battling the elements to ferret out survivors in the earthslip since Wednesday.
The injured have been shifted to the rural hospital in Manchar town below.
Earlier in the morning, exhausted and emotionally fraught relatives of the dead, arriving in droves from neighbouring Ghodegaon and Pune city, jostled with journalists to undertake the arduous 30-km trek from Dimbhe at the base to the Arivare Primary Health Care centre, where the bodies were being brought for identification.
“While we are working with medical teams at breakneck speed, the stench from the bodies is terrible. What is making the retrieval of the bodies harder is the fact that rigor mortis has set in after 48 hours,” said Shailendra Awasthi, chief of NDRF operations at Malin.
Fear of stench and a consequent epidemic has compelled the police to regulate admission to the spot of the catastrophe, with security personnel stringently regulating the flow of relatives of the deceased and aid agencies from Dimbhe to Malin.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has announced financial aid of Rs. five lakh for the next of kin of each of the victims. The assistance would be given from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Free medical treatment will be given to the injured and rehabilitation of the village will be done on a priority basis, said officials.
Speaking in Pune, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Patangrao Kadam reiterated the constitution of a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on the lines of the NDRF for immediate response to a developing situation in the event of disasters and emergencies.
Initially, the two SDRF companies are to have three teams of 45 officers and men, said Mr. Kadam.
>Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had on Thursday visited Malin village, the scene of the tragedy over 100 kms from Pune, and announced an assistance of Rs. two lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased from the PM Relief Fund.
