KARWAR: The Uttara Kannada district administration finally pulled out the truck, which fell into Kali river on the outskirts of Karwar when a 42-year-old bridge collapsed on August 7, on Thursday. The truck was on its way to Tamil Nadu from Goa when the incident occurred.
On August 14, preparations were being made to retrieve the truck from the river, but it was delayed by a day. However, the efforts resumed on Thursday morning when the IRB and the district administration decided to pull it out. A crane, belonging to a Yellapur-based company, was deployed for the operation.
A local Siddi youth Sanya, and Eshwar Malpe and his team dived into the waters to tie a rope to the truck. The divers and NDRF, district administration and the police managed to pull out the truck after a nine-hour operation. The truck was pulled up by a hundred metres after a struggle of five hours.
The rope tied to the truck severed on several occasions and the company had to be dependent on Eshwar Malpe and Sanya Siddi time and again. Siddi, who works with a private firm which rented out the crane, dived in several times and remained in water without oxygen for several minutes to tie the rope to the vehicle.
The truck, belonging to a person from Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu, has now been brought out of water with the help of three towing vehicles, cranes and several ropes. The officials have lauded the efforts of Sanya Siddi. Senior police officers, Uttara Kannada SP Narayan and Uttara Kannada DC Lakshmi Priya were present at the spot.
Meanwhile, high drama prevailed when a person identified as Senthil, a relative of the truck owner, tried to jump into Kali river to end his life. However, a journalist named Naveen Sagar managed to rescue him. According to top police officials, he has been booked by Chittakula police.