Feroze Qureshi and Monu Kumar, experts in the rat-hole mining technique, were the first to meet the 41 labourers rescued from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand after they cleared the last bit of the rubble inside the structure.
A total of 113 teams were deployed by the federal contingency force in the two states and adjoining areas for launching relief and rescue in the wake of the cyclone.
It was a highly emotional moment, with those gathered outside shouting slogans and the workers themselves welcomed by everyone present, as these photographs show.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday termed as 'baseless', Union Home Minister Amit Shah's claim that the state government did not heed the Centre's warning regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains.
Babu after reaching there, slipped and fell and got trapped between rocks on the mountain face
Students held a protest over the deaths of the civil services aspirants, raising slogans against authorities.
The death toll in the landslide at Irshalwadi hamlet in Maharashtra's Raigad district mounted to 27 on Saturday with the recovery of five more bodies from the debris on the third day of the search and rescue operation, a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) official said.
Some people broke down at the shock of seeing the cold and injured bodies of their loved ones, while others heaved a sigh of relief that their kin were not among the deceased.
Nine National Disaster Response Force teams were deployed for rescue operations following one of the worst railway disasters in India that killed at least 278 people and injured more than 900. According to official data, the force rescued 44 victims and retrieved 121 bodies from the spot.
The toll in the landslide at a railway construction site in Manipur's Noney district rose to 24 on Saturday with 38 people still missing, officials said.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the weather situation with senior officials and asked them to incorporate technologies such as drones to assess the deluge and accordingly plan the relief works.
While rain intensity reduced on Tuesday compared to a day ago, affecting mainly districts in the Saurashtra region, administration carried out rescue and relief operations on a large scale, shifting thousands of people to shelters.
Thackeray is in constant touch with collectors of districts on the western coast of the state for updates about the impact of Nisarga, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.
As many as 190 people have died and over 200 injured in the massive landslides that hit Wayanad district two days ago, with the numbers expected to increase even more as rescuers unearth debris, the district administration said on Thursday.
'An even bigger salute to all the rescue workers and all the agencies that worked tirelessly to rescue our 41 workers trapped in the Utarkashi Silkyara tunnel. Jai Hind!''
In an unprecedented measure, the Maharashtra government requested defence officials to arrange airlift of the stranded passengers of the 17412 Mahalaxmi Express.
Widespread rains lashed parts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, prompting authorities to declare a holiday for schools in Chennai and many other districts.
Vijayan said the news that the SDMA had directed scientific institutions and scientists not to visit the disaster-affected Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad and not to express their opinions was misleading.
A total of 1,162 essential documents have been distributed among 872 persons at the camp, the district administration in Wayanad said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a warning of significant rainfall in Kerala due to cyclone Fengal, currently positioned as a strong low-pressure area over northern Tamil Nadu.
The Navy wanted to ascertain the water level as their divers can operate up to 100 feet in a closed container-type situation, a district official said.
The conditions that lead to landslides, including soil texture, soil moisture and slope are known, and it is important to put all this knowledge into an operational system, he said.
A high-powered submersible pump from Coal India Ltd will be put into operation on Thursday.
Chairperson of the Railway Board Jaya Varma Sinha said that Kavach, an automatic anti-collision train protection system, is being planned for the route.
However, the National Disaster Response Force, which has been engaged in the rescue operation since the day of the tragedy on December 13 last, will continue with their services.
'Coordination between our 50 teams, each with a strength of 45 men, played a key role in rescuing flood-affected people in Chennai. In all, we succeeded in rescuing over 20,000 people.'
At least five people were killed in separate rain-related incidents on Tuesday in Bengaluru, which has been reeling under incessant rains for the past three days causing widespread flooding in several residential areas and turning roads into virtual rivers.
The rescuers had to make hectic efforts to remove the mangled frames of furniture, including large sofas, from the rubble at the mishap site.
With the recovery of five more bodies from the debris at the landslide-affected Irshalwadi village in Maharashtra's Raigad district, the toll increased to 21 on Friday, an official said.
Rescue operations were underway on Friday to trace over 45 people missing following flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts of Himachal Pradesh, officials said on Friday.
"This is our most massive deployment in any flood disaster till date. Now we have close to 1,600 personnel with 21 officers and 200 rubberised inflatable boats. We have rescued over 16,000 people to safer locations till now," the DG said.
They said at least four such cases are being looked into by the anti-terror agency officials.
The bodies of three labourers were on Saturday pulled from the rubble of a wall that collapsed at a construction site in the Vasant Vihar area in New Delhi amid heavy rain, officials said.
Due to heavy rains and waterlogging over the tracks at several locations on South Central Railway network, as many as 99 trains were cancelled and four trains were partially cancelled while 54 trains were diverted, an SCR official said.
At least 16 people lost their lives in various rain-related incidents in Telangana while the unprecedented rainfall and floods in Andhra Pradesh over the past three days affected about 4.5 lakh people leading to the evacuation of more than 30,000 to relief camps.
Heavy rain continued to lash Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, bringing residential neighborhoods and roads under knee-deep water and leading to traffic congestion besides affecting public transport services.
The toll in Monday's temple collapse incident increased to 17 with rescue teams recovering one more body on Sunday.
100 people are feared trapped as Irshalwadi village in Maharashtra's Raigad district was buried by a landslide early on Thursday morning.
Ten teams of the NDRF have begun full-fledged relief and rescue operations on the third day of the disaster in quake-hit Nepal.
The search operation was suspended around 6 pm on Friday due to heavy rains, an NDRF official said.
