Shiroor/Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s truck driver’s body was found after 71 days when a dredger was conducting searches in the Gangavali river in Ankola, Shiroor area in Karnataka lifted the truck from the bed of the river. The body was recovered from the cabin.
On July 16, the truck driver, Arjun, went missing after a landslide hit the Shiroor area in Karnataka. He had parked his lorry near a tea shop in Ankola, Shiroor area along the Kochi-Panavel national highway.
After the landslide hit the area, the death of ten people including the tea shop owner, where Arjun parked his vehicle, was confirmed while the dead bodies were also recovered. However, there was no information about Arjun.
An official said that Arjun’s body was recovered at around 3 pm on Wednesday after the body was recovered from the cabin of the truck.
Jithin, the brother-in-law of Arun, has been camping in the area ever since a dredger was put into service besides divers and other official machinery for the recuse operation.
“We always knew he would return. We badly wanted to get his body and we succeeded in getting it,” said Jithin and broke into tears.
Arjun’s truck’s GPS signal was received from the place where it went missing and the truck was suspected to be under 10 meters in the mud. The officials tried to remove the debris but a landslide at a nearby hill again halted the process, then.
Karwar MLA Sathish Krishna Sailwas another person who was actively involved in the search operations and after he got the news, he rushed to the spot and also confirmed to the media that the body of Arjun was recovered from the cabin.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited the residence of Arjun in Kozhikode last month and promised all possible support and help from the Kerala government.
Manaf the owner of the ill-fated truck was also seen at the spot and confirmed to the media that it was his truck when it was first spotted above the waters after being lifted by the cranes.
The Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy and other ministers had also visited the accident site while the Kerala ministers and legislators had expressed their solidarity.
(IANS)
