Search operations continue to trace lorry driver from Kerala missing after landslide in Uttara Kannada

PTI, Jul 19, 2024, 3:48 PM IST

Bengaluru/Thiruvananthapuram: Search operations are continuing in Shirur village in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district to trace a lorry driver from Kerala who is feared missing after a massive landslide, police said on Friday.

He has been identified as Arjun, a native of Kozhikode, they said.

Six bodies have been recovered after the incident on July 16.

“Karnataka Police is doing all the possible ways to remove the debris but continuous rains are hampering operations. But we are hopeful that we will be able to locate (those feared missing). We are with the family (Arjun’s). We will do whatever possible ways to trace out the lorry,” Superintendent of Police (Karwar), Narayana M, told PTI.

Vehicular traffic has been temporarily suspended on National Highway 66 following the landslide.

According to Arjun’s family, his lorry is suspected to be trapped under the debris and his phone rang twice but there was no response.

The global positioning system-installed vehicle was tracked to the area where parts of the hill collapsed, they said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed Chief Secretary Dr V Venu to take necessary action.

As per the Chief Minister’s instructions, the Chief Secretary is in constant contact with the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police at the scene of the incident, a CMO official said.

Kerala’s Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan spoke to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar over phone and requested urgent action to trace Arjun.

“Shivakumar assured that rescue operations are being expedited and all necessary steps are being taken,” the LoP’s office said in Thiruvananthapuram.

According to Karwar police, after an intensive rescue and search operation by the local police, a team of National Disaster Response Force, Fire and emergency services and officials of other agencies amid rains, four bodies were recovered by Tuesday evening.

On Thursday, two more bodies were recovered, police said, adding, among the four dead were members of the same family, who ran a road-side eatery.