While the search for Arjun, a truck driver missing since a massive landslide struck Shirur, Karnataka on July 16 continues, the body of an elderly woman who was washed away from her house has been retrieved from the Gangavalli river. Local residents alerted the police to the presence of the body.
“This morning, all operations have resumed including that of the Navy divers who have set up boats, safety equipment etc for the deep dive around the identified landslide debris inside the river. We will get an update by afternoon from operations in the river," Krishna Byre Gowda, Karnataka’s Minister for Revenue, said on July 23.
The landslide that occurred on July 16 near Shirur village in Uttara Kannada district had dumped tonnes of debris on National Highway 66. It was cleared on Monday, July 22. Arjun, a driver from Kerala, remains missing. Rescue officials believe Arjun may be trapped with his vehicle under the landslide debris that possibly fell into the river.
Arjun was driving a BharatBenz truck loaded with 40 tonnes of timber from Belagavi to Kozhikode and had stopped for tea on the Panvel-Kanyakumari NH-66 near Shirur when the landslide struck. The incident covered 300 meters of the highway, sweeping away a tea shop and at least seven people. Three bodies have been found near the sea, but Arjun has yet to be located.