Thiruvananthapuram: The body of Arjun, the missing Kerala lorry driver, was retrieved from the Gangavali River on Wednesday, along with his vehicle, over two months after a landslide occurred at Shirur village in the Uttara Kannada district.
The vehicle was recovered 71 days after the landslide that occurred on July 16 on the National Highway 66. Manaf, the owner of the truck, who was present at the site, confirmed that the cabin lifted from the river was indeed from his truck. He reported that a body, presumed to be Arjun's, was also found inside the cabin of the vehicle.
SDRF officials inspected the cabin, retrieved the body remains and shifted it to a dinghy boat.
The body was in a decomposed state as it was lying under water for more than two months. The remains were shifted in an ambulance to Karwar Government Hospital mortuary.
According to authorities, a DNA test would be performed as part of the procedure.
The lorry was recovered from CP2, one of the four areas earmarked for search operation. The lorry was lying at a depth of 12 metres from the water surface. During the search, a crash guard from Arjun's truck was recovered from the Gangavali River using a dredger machine.
Manaf had confirmed that the crash guard belonged to his truck. Another metal object was also found in the river. This gave hope to the people involved in the search to intensify the operations in the area which finally brought results.
The search team located the truck at one of the four shortlisted points. "Arjun had a lot of faith in me. No matter what happened, I would be there. I have fulfilled my promise to the family. His body should be taken home at the earliest after completing the formalities. I don't need anything else," said an emotional Manaf.
Arjun's brother-in-law Jithin, who has been in Shirur since the search operation began, wept uncontrollably as he saw the crane lifting the twisted cabin from the river. "We were certain that Arjun would not return. But for the family, the most important thing was to find some remains," he told reporters.
On July 23, radar and sonar signals had received strong indications of the metal part believed to belong to the lorry. It was marked in CP4 near the mound in the middle of the river. However, the search operation had to be stopped due to heavy rains and currents on July 28.
The second phase of the search began on August 14. During the initial phase, search operations could not be continued due to rough weather. Later, divers led by Ishwar Malpe carried out a search of the area but could only find trees and boulders.
Despite a 13-day initial search on land and water, no clues regarding Arjun's whereabouts could be traced. Following extensive search operations, the Uttara Kannada district authorities confirmed that no signs of human presence were detected with various devices.
The search resumed after the Karnataka High Court ordered the state government to continue the efforts. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened in the matter personally and even visited the site at Shirur to have an on the spot assessment of the search operations.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had offered all support for the serach. Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Kerala ministers ERa The
Search will continue for other two missing persons from Karnataka: KarwarMLA
Meanwhile, Karwar MLA Satish Krishna Sail said a DNA test will be conducted to confirm that the body found in the lorry belongs to Arjun and the body will be sent soon. The DNA test will be conducted in Mangalore. The body will be taken to a lab in Mangalore for this purpose. The official confirmation will be made only after receiving the test results, the MLA said.
The legislator announced that the search for the two individuals, Lokesh and Jagannathan, both hailing from Karnataka, who went missing in the Shirur landslide, will persist. "The extensive search was initiated due to your persistent efforts. Your constant advocacy was instrumental in this recovery," the MLA acknowledged, highlighting the tireless pursuit of Kerala's media personnel. "Previously, there were claims that the body was on the shore, prompting a search in the landslide area. Even then, we maintained that the body was in the river," added the MLA.
DNA test results in two days: Collector
District Collector Lakshmi Priya said the DNA testing is part of the procedure as a missing man case was registered with the police. "We have taken the DNA samples and these would be matched with the samples of the relatives. Usually the results of a DNA test are received within two days. Once the results are received, the body will be handed over to the relatives," she said.
The collector said it was a collective and continuous effort of the entire team under the MLA and district authorities. "We are happy that we were able to bring the search to a logical conclusion," she said.
