SHIRUR(UTTARA KANNADA): The teams involved in the search operation on Wednesday managed to locate the truck driven by Arjun from Kerala on the Gangavalli riverbed at Shirur in Uttara Kannada district.
Efforts are on to lift the truck from the riverbed with help of Navy divers and radar experts. The district administration coordinated with ISRO, Indian Navy and Army, NDRF, SDRF, Coast Guard, and the Fire and Emergency Services Department to help the teams. However, the operation could not be continued because of heavy rain.
The operation began at 6 am with divers searching the riverbed. Uttara Kannada DC Lakshmi Priya and SP Narayan supervised the operation.
Rain hits search ops
“I sent details to my friend at the North Atlantic Space Agency (NASA). He gave me some suggestions. I shared them with ISRO. We got the pictures and analysed them. We have confirmation about the truck. Heavy machinery and equipment can’t reach the spot because of the Konkan railway and Gangavalli bridges. We have to use a boom barrier or crane to reach the riverbed,” Narayan told TNIE.
To aid the operation, the district administration sought a deep penetration radar from Noida. “We were supposed to get it by air, but the DGCA objected to it because of the bad weather. The radar will reach Shirur by Shatabdi Express, Narayan said.
MLA Satish Sail and Manjeshwar (Kerala) MLA Ashraf were at the spot.
Post noon, the choppers could not take off due to heavy rain. Sail and Lakshmi Priya expressed confidence that by Thursday evening, the truck and two bodies of the landslide victims would be recovered.