Kozhikode: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday paid a visit to the house of Arjun, the Kozhikode man who went missing in the Karnataka landslide.

The search for Arjun, Kannadikkal native and lorry driver, who disappeared in the landslide in Shiroor, Uttara Kannada district, on 16 July, has not yielded any breakthrough. As media attention shifted to the Wayanad landslide, his family expressed concerns and urged the government to continue interventions. The Chief Minister's visit comes at this juncture.

The Chief Minister arrived at Arjun’s home around 12:30 PM and spent approximately fifteen minutes there.

During the visit, the family presented a memorandum to him. The Chief Minister assured them that all possible measures would be taken to support them. Following the visit, Arjun’s family expressed that the Chief Minister’s presence had provided them with some solace.

The family members of Arjun say that the search operation is currently in a state of uncertainty. The family has alleged that the search operations in Shiroor have ceased and claimed that the search team from the river had been threatened with legal action and sent back. The district administration has stated that the same current in the Gangavali River, which halted the search, remains unchanged.

Arjun 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 was covered by soil up to 10 metres deep. Efforts were made to remove the soil, but they were halted when another nearby hill collapsed.

Later, rescue officials maintained that 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. Rescue efforts became complicated due to the strong currents in the Gangavali river, which exceeded six knots. Earlier drone surveys did not detect any signs of human presence, although a signal from Arjun’s lorry was picked up.

It remains uncertain whether he was washed away or trapped in the mud, as searches on both land and water have yet to yield results.