Tiware Dam breach: 13 people killed, 11 others missing

Thirteen people have been killed and 11 others were missing on Wednesday after heavy rainfall caused a breach in Tiware Dam in Ratnagiri district, leading to a flood-like situation in downstream villages, NDRF officials said.

Bodies of 12 people have been identified, they said.

In a statement, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) 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, 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 said.

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.