Malin rescue worker has Killari connection

PUNE: These past six days have brought back stark memories of the 1993 Killari earthquake for 49-year-old Vitthal Kale operating an excavator to clear the mud from the landslide in Malin village.
Kale, who is digging out more bodies than survivors, had done the same job in Killari in Latur. He was then a helper to an excavator operator. Today, he is operating one and has removed 27 bodies in the last six days.
"Working here is tougher than Killari. The mud and slush has made it difficult. Removing bodies from the debris of the houses in Killari was less challenging, as identifying locations where the bodies could have been buried was easy. Here, we cannot even begin to guess where a body could be buried so we have to be more cautious," said Kale, while speaking to TOI.
He works with a private excavator firm in Manchar and is from Latur district. He had come to Pune five years ago for work and has been working with excavator operating firms for 25 years.
"My chief operator used to remove the bodies and I used to help him in Killari. Mine was the secondary role. Today, I am the chief operator and playing a key role in removing bodies," he said.
Another excavator operator Nitin Mhatre (24) said they have been working for nearly 12 hours a day in Malin. Each machine has three to four people including an operator, a helper, a technician and an NDRF jawan.
"We search for bodies using the excavator. Once the body is found, we lift it and take it to a corner. NDRF officials, health workers and volunteers take up the body and send it for the next process," he said.
They are covering more areas of the village with each passing day.
"The area of operation is spreading and becoming bigger. There are more machines. Right now, five machines including excavators and earth movers are operating on the ground," said Mhatre, who removed 22 bodies.
Most are now highly decomposed. In some cases, they find only body parts which have to be lifted and handed over to the health officials. Some operators said the operation was extremely challenging because of the lack of infrastructure.