Kozhikode: The Uttara Kannada district administration on Friday confirmed that a truck driven by a Kozhikode native is among the vehicles trapped in the Ankola landslide. The incident happened on Tuesday, July 16, on a national highway.
Arjun, a native of Kannadikkal in Kozhikode, went missing while driving the truck loaded with wood from Karnataka to Kerala. Another vehicle, a car carrying a family, is also trapped, said sources.
Rescue efforts are underway to trace the missing individuals, said Uttara Kannada's Kumta sub-division Assistant Commissioner Kalyani Venkatesh Kamble. ''We have set up a control room,'' said Kamble. Control room officials at Ankola also confirmed that they have received information regarding the missing driver from Kerala. ''We are in touch with the truck company to get the last location details. We assume he might be trapped under debris. Search is in full swing,'' a disaster management specialist said.
Heavy showers and a chance of another landslide are making it extremely difficult for the rescue workers, said Uttara Kannada District Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Lakshmi Priya. “We have cleared one side of the road. At present there is no visible debris on one end of the lane. The next step is to clear the other end towards the river. We have to do this taking care of the extremely precarious situation. There is a chance of another landslide so we are taking it step by step. Around 40 workers are on the field and in addition, we have operators of excavators and other machines. We need to take care of their safety. Considering the possibility that the truck may have been washed off into the river, we have sought the assistance of navy divers from Karwar naval base,'' said Gangu Bai.
Around ten people were feared trapped under the debris of which seven bodies have been recovered. ''The search is now underway for three persons and the Kerala driver, who is also included in the missing list. We have identified six bodies. We have so far recovered seven bodies. Five deceased are from a family and one body is of a gas tanker driver who is from Tamil Nadu. Another body, which was recovered, needs to be identified,'' said Gangu Bai.
Earlier, the Ankola police had allegedly dismissed the suspicions of Arjun's family that he might be trapped in the landslide and refused to launch a search operation.
"The truck's location is clear on the GPS, and it's right where the landslide happened," vehicle owner Manaf told Manorama News on Friday. "We were in contact with Arjun till early Tuesday morning," he added.
Manaf first became suspicious about Arjun's whereabouts when he noticed the truck's location remained unchanged for an unusually long time on Tuesday. "I received messages in WhatsApp groups about the landslide and tried calling Arjun, but his phone was switched off," Manaf said. “We reached the spot, but the Ankola police refused to assist in searching for Arjun despite informing them immediately."
Manaf also expressed hope that Arjun might still be alive if the soil hadn't entered the driver's cabin. "The vehicle is fully covered, and the cabin is air-conditioned, so there's a chance that the soil may not have gotten inside. We still hope that Arjun could be saved," Manaf stated, adding that Arjun's phone was active twice since Thursday. "The phone rang when his wife called yesterday, but it went off again shortly after," he said.
Arjun's family has filed complaints with the Chevayoor police in Kozhikode and at the Ankola police station.
Following the directions of CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Secretary Dr V Venu has contacted the District Collector and Superintendent of Police of Uttara Kannada and is following the updates on rescue efforts.
Kerala Transport Minister KB Ganesh Kumar said on Friday that he has contacted the Karnataka counterpart and provided all necessary details to the officials there. He also directed the Kasaragod district collector to investigate the incident. "A team led by the Kasaragod RTO has headed to the spot," he said.
