Pune Garbage Dump Collapse Claims Eight Lives, Search Continues for One Missing Person

Pune: The death toll in the garbage dump collapse at the Moshi Waste-to-Energy project in Pimpri-Chinchwad has risen to eight after rescue teams recovered seven more bodies from the collapsed administrative building, officials said on Sunday. One person remains missing, and search operations are still underway.

The accident occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday when a massive heap of garbage collapsed onto the administrative building inside the Moshi garbage depot operated by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

A total of 23 people were trapped in the incident. Of them, 22 were inside the administrative building, while another person was buried beneath a large garbage mound near the structure. Five people managed to escape immediately after the collapse.

A large-scale rescue operation was launched involving the Indian Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) Fire Services and the police.

Rescuers saved nine people on the first day of the operation. On Thursday, Bhavesh Wani was pulled out alive from the debris and rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

Rescue efforts continued over the following days but were slowed by the unstable condition of the damaged building, which posed serious risks to emergency personnel.

Authorities deployed heavy equipment, including 12 excavators, dumpers and JCB machines, to remove debris and create safe access routes. Later, two advanced demolition excavators were brought in to carefully dismantle dangerous sections of the structure under the supervision of the NDRF.

The controlled demolition enabled rescue teams to enter deeper into the collapsed building. On Saturday, they recovered seven more victims from the debris. All were taken to a hospital in Pimpri, where doctors declared them dead.

With these recoveries, the death toll has reached eight.

Officials said one person is still believed to be trapped beneath the garbage mound adjacent to the collapsed building. Rescue teams, assisted by NDRF dog squads and specialised search equipment, continue to search for the missing individual.

With inputs from IANS