Phulbani: Multi-agency search and rescue operations were intensified on Tuesday with deployment of ground-penetrating radar (GPR), specialised equipment, and controlled blasting to locate villagers buried beneath massive debris at a landslide-hit hilltop hamlet of Gidipabali under Bhanjanagar block of Ganjam district.
The catastrophe struck the village around 3 am on October 28, when torrential rainfall triggered by Cyclone Arnab unleashed a massive downpour of mud, rocks, and uprooted trees down the hillside. The torrent flattened homes while sleeping residents lay inside, nearly erasing the hilltop settlement of nine families and roughly 26 residents.
Odisha’s Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari stated that 157 personnel from the NDRF, ODRAF, Railways, and Fire Services have been pressed into service, along with 25 local volunteers. Apart from these, daily labourers are also been engaged in the operation, he said, adding that all modern technology is being used to trace the missing people.
The joint operation involves the district administrations of both Ganjam and Kandhamal alongside central and state disaster management forces. Out of the residents affected, two were rescued shortly after the disaster while 11 managed to survive on their own. Sub-Collector Pranita Das personally monitored accommodation arrangements for the rescued villagers and food facilities for young children. Two women among the 13 villagers were later admitted to Udayagiri Community Health Centre after they reportedly fell ill.
During the four days of the SAR operation, the bodies of two persons from among the missing in the landslide on Thursday night, have so far been recovered. The deceased have been identified as Sanman Pradhan (29) and Rabi Mallick (52). “We are facing difficulty in removing huge boulders that rolled down the hills and fell on houses, beneath which some bodies are suspected to be buried,” Director General of Fire Services, S Sarangi, told the media.
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The Director General elaborated on the extreme logisitical challenges confronting response teams, noting that several boulders blocking the search site were as large as houses. The difficult terrain and a complete lack of motorable road access made transporting heavy machinery impossible, as even farm tractors could not navigate the steep approach. Rescuers initially tried the railway department’s chain-pulling technique to shift the rocks, but the effort proved unsuccessful. Subsequently, authorities planned controlled blasting to break the boulders.
Sarangi said that the teams are now using explosives to blast the huge boulders before removing the debris from the damaged houses. Although three controlled explosions executed on Monday failed to break the dense rocks, fresh blasting efforts resumed on Tuesday morning with technical guidance from the Mines Department. Three specialised sniffer dogs — Rocky, Vicky, and Sultan — are also assisting in pinpointing location spots under the sludge.
He expressed hope that the search operation could be completed by rhis evening as the new rock-breaking measures take effect.