SHIRUR (UTTARA KANNADA): Amidst fear of further landslide, and incessant rain in Uttara Kannada district, search operations for the bodies buried under the rubble at the Shirur landslide site has reached its seventh day, and the bodies of Jaganath Naik, Arjun and Lokesh Gouda are still missing.
The army, IRB, NDRF and SDRF have been searching for the missing people at all the places right from landslide areas and even the River Gangavalli.
Heavy rain has made the nearby areas also vulnerable to landslides, however search operations are being carried out in full swing. Efforts to find the lorry in the river have not yielded desired results, revealed sources.
According to a release from the revenue department, “Search under the accumulated mud on the road is almost complete. We have not found any survivors or trucks. We have been carrying search operations in the river, and open water. Focus is now more on the Gangavalli river, and every lead is being pursued. Deep divers are trying to locate the truck.”
Mentioning the role of the Indian army team which joined the rescue operations on Sunday, the ministry said, “The Indian Army Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief Team - 1 officer, 2 JCOs and 55 other ranks of Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre, Belgaum, and 01 JCO and 02 other ranks from College of Military Engineering, Pune are also engaged in the search operations.”
Besides the equipments already available at the site, the army is equipped with specialised equipments including a ferrex locator 150, ground penetration radar, deep search metal detectors, rafts with overboard motors and specialised climbing equipment.
A team of 29 NDRF members, 42 SDRF members, 12 deep divers from Indian Navy, are actively looking for the missing drivers.
Manjunath Gouda who was a witness to the impact of the landslide, requested Fisheries and Ports Minister Mankal Vaidya and Karwar-Ankola MLA Satish Sail, who has been inspecting the rescue operations, to find his missing mother Sanni Hanumnatha Gouda, who was washed away in the floods due to the landslide.