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MARGAO: With the recovery of seven more bodies between Saturday midnight and Sunday night, the death toll in the disaster at Chaudi, Canacona, has risen to 16. Till late Sunday police were unable to locate the builders, who appear to be on the run.

 Over 30 hours following Saturday’s collapse of the five-storey building, the authorities fear more are trapped in the debris, but are clueless on the numbers.

 The rescue operations have been made still more difficult as there is no information regarding the number of labourers engaged in the construction activity at the site when the disaster struck.

 "As almost all the workers who survived fled, and with no labour contractors coming forward with the information about their workers, and with the builders not being traced at their known local addresses, we have absolutely no idea how many persons could be still within the debris," a senior administrative officer said.

 The peculiar topography of the area-the building complex is located on reclaimed land, with hillcutting on one side and landfilling on the other-with inadequate access, and closely spaced interconnected building blocks, has also rendered the task of the rescue operators more difficult.

 Police sources said that while 9 bodies were recovered by Saturday night, two were found after the edition went to the press on Saturday, and two more were found on Sunday morning. The sole person rescued on Sunday morning succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. Two more bodies were recovered late Sunday but could not be identified, police said.

 Search and rescue operations got a major boost following the arrival of the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) personnel at the site. NDRF took charge of the operations immediately, following which the military personnel who were engaged in the exercise since Saturday evening and throughout the night, were withdrawn. Personnel of the fire and emergency services (F&ES) are assisting NDRF in the search and rescue operations.

 South Goa SP Shekhar Prabhudessai who has been closely supervising the operations, said that the operations will continue throughout Sunday night as well.

 A helpline for the relatives of the people affected by the mishap has been set up at the police control room whose number is 7875756000, Prabhudessai said.

 Addressing media persons, acting South Goa district collector Venancio Furtado said that sniffer dog squads were pressed into service by NDRF to locate trapped persons or dead bodies, besides using victim-location cameras to aid them in the operations. "Movement of heavy machinery is restricted owing to inadequate space for manoeuvreing the machines and the fact that there are building blocks on both sides of the collapsed building," Furtado said.

 "How long it will take for the rescue operations to complete is a big question mark. We will do our best," fire and emergency services director Ashok Menon said.

 Though chief minister Manohar Parrikar had announced setting up an inquiry to probe into the incident, the district collector failed to provide any information about any such inquiry being initiated. "All our efforts are currently concentrated on the rescue operations," he said. He also could not provide satisfactory answers to queries by reporters over perceived lack of adequate coordination between the various agencies involved in the search and rescue operations.

 Sources said that the rescued persons were admitted to the hospitals for treatment. While 11 are in the Hospicio hospital, Margao, two are in the Goa Medical College, Bambolim, one at the Canacona PHC, while two were discharged on Sunday.

 Of the 15 bodies, two have been identified as those of locals. Their names were gives as-Vikas Devu Velip and Sudhakar Ganesh Velip-both from Gaondongrim. Locals fear that at least four more locals could be trapped in the debris.

 Tribal welfare minister and local MLA Ramesh Tawadkar who visited the site said that the chief minister has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of those who have died in the disaster. "At least 15 people who used to come to this site for work everyday, had gone to witness the Lokotsav event on Saturday and thus escaped imminent death," he said.