Pune building collapse: Death toll reaches 8, 1 person still missing

The death toll in the Moshi garbage dump collapse in Pimpri-Chinchwad region of Maharashtra’s Pune increased to eight after rescue teams recovered seven more bodies from the damaged administrative building of the Waste-to-Energy project, officials said.

Speaking to mediapersons, the rescue personnel have confirmed that one person is still unaccounted for, while search is underway to locate the missing individual, IANS reported.

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The incident took place at around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday after a massive mound of garbage gave way and crashed onto the administrative building located inside the Moshi garbage depot. It was operated by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.

At the time of the incident, 23 people were trapped. Among them, 22 were inside the administrative building and one person was buried beneath a large heap of garbage adjacent to the structure. Five individuals were able to escape safely.

Later on, an extensive rescue operation was carried out, involving personnel from the Indian Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) Fire Services and police.

On the first day, rescue teams were able to pull nine people out of the damaged building alive, while search continued to locate those who remained trapped inside the debris. On Thursday, rescuers recovered Bhavesh Wani from the collapsed structure and immediately shifted him to a hospital.

However, doctors later declared him dead.

During the rescue operation, teams encountered major challenges due to the unstable condition of the damaged building that posed a major risk to personnel involved in the mission.

To facilitate the rescue work, heavy machinery, including 12 excavators, dumpers and JCB machines, were deployed to remove debris surrounding the building.