Around 130 dead in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra

Mumbai, July 23: Around 130 people have died in rain-related incidents including landslides in Maharashtra in the last 48 hours, a senior official from the state disaster management department said on Friday evening. 

This included 38 deaths in a landslide in a village in the coastal Raigad district''s Mahad tehsil on Thursday, he said 

"The death toll in Maharashtra in the last 48 hours has reached 129. Most of the deaths are from Raigad and Satara districts," the official said. Besides landslides, several people were swept away in floodwaters. The official put the death toll in various incidents in Western Maharashtra''s Satara district at 27. 

Other fatalities included those reported from eastern districts such as Gondia and Chandrapur, he said. The landslide in Raigad district took place near Talai village in Mahad tehsil on Thursday evening. 

"Thirty-six bodies have been recovered from the spot so far," a senior police official had said earlier in the day, adding that NDRF teams and local officials were engaged in rescue work. Landslides also hit Ambeghar and Mirgaon villages in Satara''s Patan tehsil during Thursday night, burying a total of eight houses, said Ajay Kumar Bansal, Superintendent of Police, Satara rural. 

But no deaths have been confirmed in the two incidents by local officials so far. Besides, 10 persons were feared trapped after a landslide in the coastal Ratnagiri district.