Kozhikode/Shirur: Underwater search expert Esher Malpe and his team have resumed the search for Arjun, a truck driver from Kozhikode who went missing in a massive landslide in Shirur of Karnataka’s Ankola. In the visuals aired on Manorama News on Sunday morning, Malpe was seen venturing into the river in a fishing boat.
Malpe told the media that he is continuing the search at his own risk as the water current has not stabilised yet. The search overseen by the National Disaster Response Force, Karnataka police, Navy and Army has entered Day 13 on Sunday.
Malpe said that high-tension wires from the snapped electric post are entangled with the logs from the truck. Roof sheets of houses collapsed in the landslide were also found buried in the riverbed. “All these will be removed as part of the search,” he added.
“The divers can’t see anything in the deep waters as the river is in spate. We are using iron rods to poke into the riverbed to see if it hits any metal object. We plan to confirm the presence of the truck trough this method,” Malpe said.
Manorama News reported that two from Malpe’s team will dive into the deep waters to search in two spots detected in the drone search. Malpe added that zero visibility is a major challenge for the search.
The Kerala government has appealed to the Karnataka government to continue the search till Arjun is found. Minister AK Saseendran told the media that the Karnataka government and Dakshina Kannada district authority have tried all possible measures to intensify the search.
“Mud, stone and a big banyan tree are above the truck that is submerged in the river. We will try our best to reach to Arjun. Not just him, but two of our people are also missing. The daughter of a missing man told us to find at least a piece of her father’s shirt. We are holding discussions with different people to overcome the challenges in the search,” said Karwar MLA Satish Krishna Sail.
The Uttara Kannada district administration on July 19 confirmed that the truck driven by a Kozhikode native was among the vehicles trapped in the Ankola landslide, three days after the incident.
Arjun, a native of Kannadikkal in Kozhikode, went missing while driving the truck loaded with wood from Karnataka to Kerala. Two Karnataka natives are also reported missing. So far, eight bodies were recovered during the 13-day search.