Thane: Incessant rains causes landslide in Kalwa, five dead

Thane: Heavy rain resulted in a landslide, causing debris to come tumbling down from the hill on two huts in a Kalwa slum. Seven people in one of the huts were trapped, as the debris landed on their home at the bottom of the hills in Gholai Nagar, Kalwa.

Five people were reported dead and two others were injured, authorities said. The fire brigade, disaster management cell, the Thane disaster response force, along with locals, carried out rescue operations.

Santosh Kadam, head of the regional disaster management cell said, “The landslide occurred around 1pm, when debris fell on two huts on the bottom of the hill. While one of the houses was empty, there were seven members of a family in the other house and they were resting after lunch. All the seven got trapped in the debris, with five of them being reported dead. Two of them were rescued and are undergoing treatment”.

According to the RDMC, the five dead have been identified as Prabhu Sudam Yadav (45), his wife Vidyavati Devi Prabhu Yadav (40), Ravi Kishan Prabhu Yadav (12), Simran Prabhu Yadav (10) and Sandhya Prabhu Yadav (3). The two injured were Achal Yadav (18), and Preeti Yadav (50.

“The entire family was asleep. Two persons were rescued and have been shifted to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital, Kalwa. The dead were moved to the hospital for post mortem,” said Kadam.

The fire brigade reached the site along with one rescue vehicle and fire engine, two ambulances, two jeeps and two tempos.

Arvind More, a local and member of the Nationalist Congress Party from Thane, who was part of the rescue operations said, “We reached the spot and rescued two people. The entire family was stuck inside". "It was the fire brigade and local authorities who tried their best and wound up the rescue operations,” added More.

Locals claim Yadav was a daily wager who came home on Saturday nights and stayed home only on Sundays. “This time too, he came on Saturday night. On Monday, he was about to leave for work. Because of the heavy rains, he decided to wait for a bit and spend some time with his family. It was a pleasant afternoon, with the family lunching together and resting, when the landslide happened,” added the local.

Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde, along with Thane Municipal Commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma and other staff visited the survivors at Kalwa hospital.