Eight days on, rescuers have identified the coordinates of the lorry driven by a man who went missing after the July 16 landslide.
The victim, Arjun of Kerala, Arjun, who is presumed dead, was driving a BharatBenz truck loaded with 40 tonnes of timber to Kozhikode from Belagavi when he stopped for tea on NH 66. Multiple rescue teams have been searching for him for nearly a week, with efforts hampered by continuous rain.
“With the assistance of Navy and ISRO satellites, disaster management teams identified a large metal object beneath the Gangavali River. Solar images confirmed it as the Benz lorry Arjun was driving, now upside down and buried under wooden logs,” said Superintendent of Police Narayana M.
“To verify the vehicle, we deployed naval deep divers, but the swift river current—flowing at 20 knots—hindered our efforts. We later used helicopters to mark the coordinates and set up a boom barrier, allowing heavy machinery access to the river tomorrow,” Narayana said.
A boom excavator was dispatched Wednesday morning to dredge 20 meters into the water and remove silt as part of the ongoing rescue operations to locate Arjun and his lorry.
Narayana added that experts from Goa will verify ISRO radar findings related to the heavy metal, while specialists from Noida will assess the imagery of the riverbed. “Once confirmed, we will initiate the lorry retrieval process. Security will be heightened, restricting public access due to drone operations, as mobile signals can disrupt frequencies. Only drone operators will be permitted onsite. We have also requested a dredger from the Dredging Corporation of India, Goa, for the operation,” he said.
Rescue teams plan to involve minor irrigation and port officials to manage the river flow around the identified coordinates.
So far, eight bodies have been recovered following the landslide that struck NH 66 near Shirur village on July 16.
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