Kurla Landslide Death Toll Rises to 8 as NDRF Ends 31-Hour Search

The death toll from Wednesday's landslide at Chirag Nagar in Kurla rose to eight on Thursday after rescue teams recovered the body of 28-year-old Saddam Hussain Khan from the rubble. The recovery came around 12:30pm, more than 31 hours after the hill slope collapsed onto Gaushiya Chawl at 3:48am on Wednesday.

Seven other residents were injured in the crash. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officially called off the search and rescue operation on Thursday afternoon after confirming that all victims and survivors had been accounted for.

Khan, who ran a local general store and lived in an adjoining unit, had lived in the area for nearly two decades while his wife and three-year-old son resided in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Rescue operations faced severe logistical challenges due to the dense settlement and narrow lanes, which prevented heavy machinery and earthmovers from reaching the disaster site. Rescuers were forced to clear mud and rocks manually under the threat of a potential second landslide.

The 35-member NDRF team split into three groups to dig through the rubble and set up a human bucket brigade to clear debris across the site, said NDRF team commander inspector Hanumant Namba. A two-year-old Labrador named Jassi from the canine squad and specialized life-detection equipment were also deployed during the operation.

Early in the operation around 9:00am on Wednesday, rescuers successfully pulled four survivors from a single home, including two children rescued from their mother's embrace. The operation grew increasingly difficult as the team reached deeper into the rubble.

Rescuers had to vertically excavate and break a 10-foot-tall boulder to recover the body of victim Vikret Yadav. Later, teams spent nearly 12 hours breaking through two even larger shifting boulders to reach Khan's body, which was the final casualty recovered before the operation concluded.