Karnataka landslide: Radar receives signal, NIT team yet to confirm Arjun’s lorry location

Bengaluru: Hints were out that the location of the lorry in which Arjun, a native of Kozhikode, who was believed to have got trapped under soil following a landslide at Ankola in Uttara Kannada, has been found on the radar. However, the NIT team says that it has not been able to confirm that the received signal belonged to the lorry. 

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.

The NIT expert team says that although the signal has come, there is no information available to confirm that it belongs to the lorry. Earlier, the soil in the area where the GPS was said to be available is now being removed. About 70 people are on the spot for rescue operations. Officials say that the lorry can be taken out only after removing the soil from many parts. Apart from Arjun, there are two others to be found.

On the morning of 16 July, Arjun (30), a resident of Kannadikkal, Kozhikode, encountered the landslide while his lorry was parked near a tea shop in Ankola along the Panvel-Kochi national highway. Tragically, the deaths of 10 individuals at the scene have been confirmed. The GPS signal from Arjun’s lorry was last located at the site where these 10 people, including the tea shop owner, perished in the landslide.

The suspected location of the lorry is covered by soil up to 10 metres deep. Efforts were made to remove the soil on Friday afternoon, but it was halted when another nearby hill collapsed. In the evening they started trying to move the soil again. The lorry was not found even after the Navy team reached the nearby Gangavali River and searched it with a metal detector and thermal camera.