Tiware dam collapse: Death count reaches 16, 8 still missing

At least 16 people were killed and eight others missing after a small dam named as Tiware Dam got breached due to heavy rainfall in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra on Tuesday late night. Nearly 12 houses in the hamlet has been washed away after the dam got breached and also a flood-like situation was created.

The teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed for carrying out rescue and relief operations. Also, the local administration stepped in to help people in close vicinity of the dam.

In a statement to ANI, the NDRF officials said a joint coordination meeting was conducted with all stakeholders during which it was decided to distribute the search area among various agencies based on their capabilities, resources and experience.

“All search teams will have a local guide who will help in the operation. All the bodies recovered will be first brought to Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) at Dadar village and thereafter shifted to Chiplun Government Hospital for post-mortem,” it said.

Earlier in the day, NDRF Director General S D Pradhan told ANI that the search operation to trace the missing people needed to be expanded which might take some time. “The local population did not anticipate this unprecedented volume of rainfall which became the principal cause of this breach last night,” he said.

"Two to three villages were deluged by heavy water flow but only one village was the worst affected. At least 12 houses were gushed out towards the coastline and the distance between affected villages and the coastline is almost 50 kilometres. So, we have to thoroughly search the beach area as well," Pradhan told ANI.

Given the unpredictability of the climate, he said dam structures should be looked at carefully. "The maintenance and inspection of such structures are extremely essential," Pradhan added. The local people have been helping the NDRF and police in the search.

It is to be noted that due to a heavy rainfall in the state, nearly 40 people have been killed.

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