An aerial search with helicopters and a NDRF team was launched.
More than 100 people stranded at a waterfall near Mumbai after heavy rain yesterday were rescued in an elaborate operation which also included an air force helicopter. A 35-year-old man from suburban Kandivli was killed after being swept away by strong currents in the waterfall, the police had earlier said.
The police identified the man killed as 35-year-old Bhavesh Gupta. Most of the people rescued were from northern Mumbai suburbs like Kandivali, Borivali, Malad and Santacruz.
Nearly 120 people had gone for a picnic at the Chinchoti waterfall, located in the Tungareshwar hill range at Vasai in neighbouring Palghar district, around 75 km from Mumbai, and were stranded after heavy downpour.
Dramatic photos showed a group perched on a rock, awaiting rescue; some others were stranded on a rock nearby, taking shelter under a tree in heavy rain.
The local police, fire brigade, disaster management cell and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued 97 people after they got information about the people being trapped at the tourist spot, a spokesperson for the Palghar police said today.
As local authorities were not able to reach some of the stranded people due to the dense forest and hilly terrain, the Indian Air Force was also called in for help, he said.
Braving the rough weather, the air force personnel searched around the waterfall in a helicopter and spotted five people, including three women, stranded at a hilly spot last evening, an official of the state disaster management cell said.
All the five people were rescued by the air force and flown to the Mumbai airport, he said.
The rescue operation was later called off after there was no report of any person stranded or missing in the area, a senior police official said.