An 83-hour search and rescue operation at the Moshi garbage dump in Pune ended early Sunday after rescuers recovered the body of the last missing employee, taking the death toll in the rubbish mound collapse to nine, officials said.
The deceased employee was identified as Waman Kaspi. His body was recovered around 1 am on Sunday and shifted to Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) in Pimpri.
The ground- and two-storey building housing the administrative offices of the waste-to-energy plant in Moshi collapsed on Wednesday afternoon after a huge pile of old waste began sliding down the building at around 1.30pm. The Moshi facility is a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant operated by a private company under an agreement with the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).
Most of the employees were eating lunch in the first floor cafeteria when the hill collapsed. Five employees fled when the building began to collapse. Of the 23 people trapped in the accident, 14 were rescued alive while nine lost their lives.
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“The search operation has been completed after the last missing employee was found. The operation continued for nearly 83 hours under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions. All those reported to have been trapped in the incident have now been identified,” a senior PCMC official said.
Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), PMRDA Fire Brigade, police and other disaster management agencies participated in the rescue operation.
Rescue efforts were slowed by the unstable condition of the partially collapsed building and the huge amount of rubbish and debris. The teams first had to stabilize the structure by removing unsafe parts and creating safe access routes before entering the building. Heavy machinery, including JCBs, excavators and an advanced demolition excavator, were deployed to clear the rubble.
Read also: The lateral force from the saturated garbage may have caused the collapse of the Moshi building: the body of the engineers
The tragedy also raised serious questions about waste management practices at the 81-acre Moshi garbage dump, the stability of the garbage mound, and alleged irregularities in permits granted for the administrative building.
According to PCMC officials, more than 650 mm of rain over three consecutive days allowed water to seep into cavities inside the garbage mound, building pressure from trapped gases, including methane, and causing the massive slide.
The civil administration described the incident as a natural disaster and said a detailed investigation would determine responsibility and examine whether the tragedy could have been prevented.
