The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, has been in contact with his counterpart in Karnataka State to expedite searching for a truck driver from Kozhikode called Arjun, whose vehicle was buried under a landslide at Ankola in Uttara Kannada District on Tuesday.
A press release from CMO said that the Chief Minister had directed the Chief Secretary Dr V Venu to ensure that the vehicle including its driver is extricated out of mud stuck on the main road by the government of Karnataka.
Arjun’s family has lodged a missing complaint with Chevayoor police station. Also, Kozhikode district police were in touch with their counterparts in Karnataka. Some relatives of Arjun have gone to Ankola Police station, Uttara Kannada district, and filed similar complaints.
KB Ganesh Kumar Transport minister told reporters at Thiruvananthapuram that it was only after he failed to return home from his interstate journey at Kannadikkal did the government realize this fact. He should have returned home on June 16 as agreed upon between him and his family.
But he never came back. The family didn’t worry because long-distance lorry drivers sometimes take more days due to trip interruptions like traffic jam or loading and offloading delays.
The truck belongs to Kerala State; also it was marked with a GPS system. The government kept touch with productions’ owner. According to preliminary information given by him, logs-filled-lorry was buried under landslide.
However, it wheelhouse was strong enough not to be collapsed keeping driver alive. Another point made by Mr Kumar is that truck manufacturer shared data about vehicle sent within past few days indicating two starts done using engine while there have been moments when Arjun phone registered presence online but location of car remained unchanged many days consecutively
Government got word from authorities in Uttara Kannada about this matter according to Mr Kumar who added that a section of the falling mud had pushed some cars into the swollen river next to the road. The occupants’ whereabouts remained unknown.
As reported by Mr Kumar, ‘‘the collector says there are fears of more landslides due to downpours.’’ Clearing the highway from huge mud pile was delayed because of bad weather.
Karnataka Deputy CM assures help in any manner possible
According to D.K Sivakumar, who is the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and has been contacted by V.D.Satheesan the Leader of Opposition, he will ensure Arjun is rescued as soon as possible. K.C Venugopal, Congress leader and MP M.K. Raghavan were also in touch with Karnataka Government. This development was confirmed by Venugopal’s office that said that MP made phone contact with Siddaramaiah-Karnataka Chief Minister who promised to quicken rescue by providing more emergency personnel and equipment.
40 emergency staff plus bulldozers have been deployed by Karnataka government to clear up debris fallen on this hillock.
