Over 620 personnel, 32 excavators, five JCBs and a rescue dog squad were deployed on Saturday to search for the missing persons in Manipur’s “worst-ever” landslide that “brought down around 2km of the hill affecting an area of 700m on the ground” early Thursday.

The death toll has risen to 34 with recovery of 13 more bodies on Saturday, of which most (23) are from Indian Territorial Army. The army personnel were providing security to those engaged in the railway project at the under-construction Tupul railway station yard in Noney district that was affected by the massive landslide triggered by incessant and heavy rainfall.

Noney district administration said on Saturday that 28 persons are still missing of whom seven are army personnel and 21 civilians. Of the 80 people who were present at the affected site when the landslide took place, 43 were from the territorial army of whom 13 were rescued on Thursday.

The army said fresh teams were deployed on Saturday morning to “augment” the search operations but sources said the chance of finding survivors were “negligible”. The search teams included personnel from the Indian Army, Assam Rifles, Territorial Army, SDRF and NDRF.

“Through-Wall Imaging Radar (TWIR) is being successfully used and search and rescue dog squad is being employed to assist in the search,” the army statement said.

TWIR are highly advanced sensors to detect survivors and bodies.

According to Noney deputy commissioner H. Guite, rainfall in the early hours of Saturday affected the search operations for a while but then it progressed smoothly. “On Saturday, rescue operation started at 4am, but because of the rainfall we advised the rescue teams to proceed with caution. There were also reports of small-scale slides in some areas,” Guite said.

Guite also said roughly about 2km of the hill came down during the landslide covering an area of around 700m down at the under-construction Tupul railway station yard.

These are preliminary findings but gives an idea of the devastation that took place, the debris blocking the Agah river down below and burying everything that came in its way.

The deputy commissioner also said bodies of victims are being retrieved from a depth of around five feet to 40 feet but it is difficult to locate the exact areas where they are buried.

Assam cabinet minister Pijush Hazarika on Saturday visited Tupul following reports that over 20 people from the state, mostly construction workers from Morigaon district, are among the missing.

Hazarika said bodies of seven construction workers and one Army jawan from Assam have been recovered while a railway engineer and 11 construction workers are missing. Five persons from Assam have been rescued of whom two are undergoing treatment.

Hazarika also thanked the N. Biren Singh-led Manipur government for its relentless efforts in rescue and relief operations despite the “complex topographic hurdles”.