Gujarat and Maharashtra were lashed with rains Gujarat and Maharashtra were lashed with rains

More than 160 people are buried under debris, and 17 feared dead after bad weather and a landslide struck Malin, a village 80 km north of Pune, on Friday.

A 100-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team has been dispatched to rescue the people buried under houses after a landslide.

Both the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra were lashed with rains in the past 24 hours. In Gujarat, train services were hit due to excessive rains and water logging. Watch: 150 people trapped under Pune landslide debris



The villagers, police, disaster authorities and the army were engaged in a combined relief and rescue operation.

People living in about 35 houses have come under the debris of a hillock that caved in at village Malin in Ambegaon taluka of the district while they were asleep, Pune (rural) police said.

According to District Collector Saurav Rao, the administration has mobilised rescue machinery to pull out those trapped.

"Exact number of causalities is not known as we are moving slowly to ensure that those trapped are removed safely. About 30 ambulances have been rushed from adjoining areas to extend medical help to the victims," he said, adding earth moving equipment from government and private parties were being pressed into service.

Communication difficulties and rains were affecting the operations, he said.

Police official Vinod Pawar told media persons that the accident occurred in Malin village in Ambegaon tehsil of Pune, around 5 am, as heavy downpour loosened earth and dislodged rocks and boulders. Heavy rain has continued to lash the region over the past four days.

"The estimated 150-plus villagers sleeping in their homes were caught unawares and many are feared trapped under the mud, boulders and debris, and the army has been requested to help," said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Dilip Walse-Patil.

Till noon, two persons were rescued alive from the debris as a downpour hampered rescue operations.

