Pics: Maharashtra landslide toll rises to 65

Pune, Aug 1: The toll in Maharashtra's landslide disaster in Malin village of the district has gone up to 65 Friday evening, rescue officials said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other agencies have rescued 23 people from under the debris in the past two days.

The village with nearly 200 people was almost entirely buried under a landslide early Wednesday following torrential rain that had lashed the region.

It has also come to light that more than two dozen people, mostly students from a school, were sleeping on a platform in the village temple premises and may have perished in the disaster.

A rescuer looks at the debris at the site of a landslide

A rescuer looks at the debris at the site of a landslide in Malin village, in Pune, Maharashtra on Wednesday. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a remote village.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials during a visit to the site of landslide at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of landslide

Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of landslide at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of landslide

Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of landslide at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Injured villagers being treated at a hospital in Pune

Injured villagers being treated at a hospital in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide at malin village in Pune.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar meets injured villagers

NCP chief Sharad Pawar meets injured villagers being treated at a hospital in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide at malin village in Pune.

Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of a landslide

Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of a landslide in Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a remote village.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials during a visit to the site of landslide at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Mass funeral of the victims near the site of a landslide

Mass funeral of the victims near the site of a landslide in Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a remote village.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials during a visit to the site of landslide at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets disaster management officials during a visit to the site of landslide at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Relatives wail after seeing the body of a victim

Relatives wail after seeing the body of a victim after a massive landslide in Malin village in Pune district of Maharashtra on Thursday.

NDRF jawan engazed in recovering a body from a stream

NDRF jawan engazed in recovering a body from a stream at the base of the hill where landslide-hit Malin village is situated, in Maharashtra on Thursday.

Relative of a landslide victim at Malin village in Pune

Relative of a landslide victim at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Relative of a landslide victim at Malin village in Pune

Relative of a landslide victim at Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday.

Relatives wail after seeing the body of a victim

Relatives wail after seeing the body of a victim of massive landslide in the Malin village in Pune district of Maharashtra on Thursday.

Survives 3 months Baby Rudra Zanjare & Usha Zanjare

Survives 3 months Baby Rudra Zanjare & Usha Zanjare (Mom of Rudra) , rescued by NDRF team from the landslide site in Malin village, on Thursday after around 24 hrs, recover in Pune Hospital.

Relative of a victims at the site of a landslide in Malin village in Pune

Relative of a victims at the site of a landslide in Malin village in Pune, Maharashtra on Thursday. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a remote village.

A majority of them are believed to have be either washed away in the river flowing adjacent to the village or buried with the temple, grieving teachers of the school told media persons.

An NDRF team has launched a search and combing operation along the banks of the river, which is now in spate.

The relief and rescue teams are searching for survivors or bodies of the estimated 130 people who are still feared trapped under the rubble.

NDRF officials Friday said chances of finding any more survivor appear bleak as their gadgets have not picked up any sign or sound.

With no heavy rain and strong winds since Friday morning, the NDRF speeded up the rescue work that will continue till Sunday.

In Mumbai, the Maharashtra government announced an aid of Rs.500,000 to the kin of each of the dead, free medical treatment to all the injured and complete rehabilitation package for the survivors.

The package will include complete repair of damaged homes or rebuilding them afresh, providing all official documents, furnishing all household articles and farming requirements to enable them restart their shattered lives.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and former union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar visited Malin Thursday and supervised the ongoing search operations.

IANS