Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Pimpri Chinchwad, 11th July 2026: The death toll in the Moshi garbage dump tragedy has risen to eight after the bodies of seven more people trapped inside the collapsed administrative building were recovered on the fourth day of the search and rescue operation on Saturday.
Rescue teams are still searching for one person believed to be trapped beneath a massive garbage mound adjacent to the building.
The accident occurred around 1:30 pm on July 8 at the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal CorporationтАЩs (PCMC) Moshi garbage depot when a huge heap of waste collapsed onto the administrative building of the Waste-to-Energy project.
According to officials, a total of 23 people were trapped in the incidentтАФ22 inside the building and one beneath the garbage heap beside it. Five people managed to escape safely from the building immediately after the collapse. Rescue teams comprising the Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), PCMC, PMRDA Fire Department, and the police launched a massive operation, successfully rescuing nine people from the building on the day of the accident.
On July 9, rescue personnel recovered Bhavesh Wani from the building. He was rushed to hospital but was declared dead on arrival, marking the first fatality in the incident.
Rescue efforts to reach those trapped inside the unstable structure faced significant challenges due to the buildingтАЩs damaged condition. Authorities deployed 12 excavators, dumpers, and JCB machines to clear debris around the site, but the instability of the structure made it difficult to create a safe access route.
Late Friday night, two advanced demolition excavators were brought to the site to remove the dangerous concrete sections of the building. Under the technical guidance of the NDRF, the unstable portions were dismantled in a controlled manner, enabling rescue personnel to enter the building safely.
During SaturdayтАЩs operation, the bodies of Akshay Sawant (35, Moshi), Sunil Korke (40, Alandi), Sunny Mane (39, Gandharvanagari, Moshi), Mahesh Kumbhar (33, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Nagesh Gaikwad (26, Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, Moshi), Ranjit Patil (22, Moshi), and Rahul Gaikwad (35, Moshi) were recovered from inside the building.
All seven victims were shifted to Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital in Pimpri, where Medical Officer Dr. Laxman Gofane declared them dead after examination. With these recoveries, the death toll in the tragedy has increased to eight.
Meanwhile, the search operation continues for one person, Waman Kasbe, who is believed to be trapped beneath the garbage heap next to the collapsed building. NDRF has deployed its canine squad, and multiple agencies are continuing the operation using specialised equipment in an effort to locate the missing individual.
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