Shirur: After a day-long operation, the search efforts by the diving team led by Eshwar Malpe to find three individuals, including Arjun, a truck driver from Kozhikode, who went missing in a massive landslide in Ankola, was suspended on Saturday. The rescue efforts will resume at 9 am on Sunday, Karnataka government officials said.
The landslide happened on National Highway 66 in Shirur around 8.35 am on July 16, when Arjun was en route to Kerala from Karnataka with a truckload of wood.
“We trust the efforts of Eshwar Malpe and his team. He is doing his best. Alongside him, the NDRF, SDRF, Navy, and Army are working together in the rescue operation. The Navy is providing all assistance to Malpe,” the Karwar MLA said. “We have identified four potential spots where Arjun's truck could be trapped in the mire under the Gangavali River. The rescuers are inspecting each spot one by one. We are doing our maximum, but due to strong undercurrents, we are still unable to pinpoint a location,” he added.
“The water is filled with mud, and there are also submerged trees. If a member of the rescue team goes under, they can easily get trapped, making rescue extremely difficult. It appears very challenging. If there are rocks above the vehicle (truck) or on top of the person trapped, it will complicate matters further. We have been struggling for the last 12 days and have explored all possibilities. The upper part of the river is a ghat, and if it rains heavily there, the flow in the river will increase significantly,” the MLA said.
Meanwhile, a team of senior Navy officials, led by Rear Admiral RM Ramakrishnan, arrived in Shirur on Saturday evening to assess the rescue operations.
Malpe and his team in search efforts
A team of eight divers, led by local underwater search expert Malpe, joined the rescue operation in the Gangavali River on Saturday. During the initial search, the rope attached to Malpe broke, but his co-rescuers managed to pull him to safety.
Malpe, renowned for his diving skills, has rescued many people in distress and retrieved hundreds of bodies from water bodies under challenging conditions.
Rescuers yet to locate truck’s cabin
Despite the efforts of the Navy's scuba diving team over the past three days, the river's strong undercurrents, reaching above 7 knots, have prevented the divers from entering the water. Visibility at the riverbed also remains zero, preventing the divers from locating Arjun's truck’s cabin.
The truck is approximately 132 meters away from the bank, buried in the sand at the centre of the river.
Rescuers are also contending with adverse weather conditions, including warnings of potential future landslides and heavy rainfall, which further hinder rescue operations. Currently, there is no evidence of human presence inside the truck, and experts suggest that Arjun may have been outside the vehicle when the landslide occurred.
Floating platform
To enhance the search efforts, the Uttara Kannada district administration had reportedly suggested setting up a floating platform in the Gangavali River. However, district collector Lakshmi Priya called off the plan, citing the unavailability of the platform in the state and technical challenges in transporting it from Goa. This decision prompted Kerala Public Works and Tourism Minister PA Mohammad Riyas to express his disagreement over the development and demanded that the platform 'must be taken to the site' during a high-level meeting.
However, the officials have made arrangements to send tugboats to the scene.
