Karnataka landslide: Army joins search; CM Siddaramaiah arrives

Ankola: The search for Arjun, a Kozhikode native who went missing after a landslide in Karnataka’s Shiroor, has entered its sixth day. To speed up the rescue efforts, a 40-member army team reached the disaster site from Belagavi. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited the accident site on Sunday afternoon. 

Meanwhile, unfavourable weather conditions are making the rescue operations difficult. Earth-moving machines are brought to the location to speed up the rescue efforts. 

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. The family also enlisted the army's assistance to expedite the rescue process after initial attempts to remove the mud proved futile.

A team of Karnataka SDRF, Kerala Motor Vehicle Department officials, Kerala police, Arjun's relative Jithin, and others have gone to the accident spot to search. There were indications that the location of the lorry in which Arjun was believed to be trapped was on the radar, but the authorities have not confirmed this yet. The team is continuing the search by removing the soil from the place where the signal was received. No information is available on how deep the lorry is or how long it will take to pull it out. However, the rescue team believes that there is a possibility.

Bharat Benz authorities claim there is a minimal chance of mud entering the vehicle. There is also hope that the engine of the lorry was still operational on the fourth day since rescue operations began.

Earlier on Saturday, Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Lakshmi Priya said that seven bodies were recovered as rescue operations continued in the landslide-hit district in Karnataka.

The Deputy Commissioner said that the missing complaints of 10 people were received, out of which three are still missing.