Pune (Maharashtra) [India], July 9 (ANI): The multi-agency search-and-rescue operation at the Municipal Corporation’s waste-to-energy plant in Moshi, Pune, entered its second day on Thursday as teams navigated the unstable wreckage of a three-story administrative building following a massive waste landslide.
Disaster management officials said the site remains highly unstable, with the structure tilted at a 45-degree angle, forcing rescuers to abandon heavy machinery in favor of a cautious, manual approach to avoid triggering a secondary “pancake collapse.”
Commandant S.B. Singh of the 5th Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) described the operation as exceptionally challenging because of the risk of structural failure.
“We are clearing debris by hand because we cannot use machines. Using machines could cause the entire structure to collapse, which would crush anyone still inside. We are working very tactically, one person at a time from a safe distance,” Singh said.
Rescuers are focusing their efforts on the building’s canteen area, where five to six people were reportedly present when the mound of waste buried the facility.
So far, rescue teams have pulled nine people to safety, while four others escaped immediately after the collapse. Authorities said six to seven people are still feared trapped beneath the debris.
The rescue effort has been further complicated by hazardous conditions inside the wreckage. Officials from the Pimpri-Chinchwad Fire Department said elevated methane levels and declining oxygen concentrations pose additional risks to rescue personnel.
Despite deploying advanced life detectors, acoustic sensors, and search dogs, teams have not yet established contact with any survivors. However, rescuers located a second body beneath the rubble on Thursday morning.
Earlier, rescue teams recovered one body and identified another beneath the debris of the collapsed building at the Municipal Corporation’s waste-to-energy plant.
The tragedy occurred after a massive mound of waste collapsed onto the plant’s administrative building following days of relentless heavy rainfall in the region.
In a separate development highlighting the intensity of Maharashtra’s monsoon, Mumbai’s water-supplying lakes recorded a sharp increase in storage levels. Sustained rainfall over the past 72 hours pushed usable water storage from 41.36% on Wednesday to 48.59% by Thursday morning, a significant increase since the start of the week.
Local authorities and the NDRF said rescue operations will continue around the clock, although officials cautioned that the fragile condition of the collapsed building means the operation is likely to be prolonged.
“We hope they are alive. Our full effort is ongoing,” Singh said. (ANI)
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