End to 72 days of wait; Arjun's truck found; decomposed body from cabin shifted to hospital mortuary

ANKOLA (UTTARA KANNADA): The truck of Arjun, native of Kannadikkal in Kozhikode, who went missing in a landslide in Shirur, was found and brought to the shore. The decomposed body, which was trapped inside the damaged cabin, has been shifted to the hospital mortuary. The truck was found 120 metres away from the road in front of Lakshmanan's tea shop, where the truck was parked, at a depth of 12 metres. A team of scuba divers found part of the truck under a mound of mud at Point 2 (CP-2), which was marked during a naval drone inspection. It was lying upside down in a puddle of mud.

The body was found completely decomposed in the cabin of the lorry, which was filled with mud, stones and rocks. Arjun was sleeping in the truck parked near the national highway in Shirur when the truck fell into the depths of the Gangavali River in the landslide.

The Navy, which captured the underwater footage of the truck in the morning, convinced the superiors and the district administration about it. They then waited for the water in the river to recede. Around 3 pm, the cabin of the truck was lifted using a crane in the dredger. The body parts were taken out of the cabin and shifted to the boat.

Satheesh Krishna Sail MLA reached the dredger at 4.30 pm and directed that the body be brought to the shore. The truck was tied to a rope and dragged with a crane to the shore. A police team led by Karwar SP Narayana reached the dinghy boat where the body was kept at around 5.30 pm in a special boat and took further action. The body will be handed over to the family today after taking a sample for DNA testing.

Answer received on 72nd day

Where are Arjun and the truck? The answer to the question was received on the 72nd day of the tragedy. Arjun's brother-in-law Jithin, lorry owner Manaf and other relatives were present at the spot. Arjun had gone missing on July 16 in the landslide. The search was carried out in three phases. The search operation had to be stopped several times due to heavy rains and undercurrents. The third phase of the search was carried out by bringing a dredger from Goa.