ANKOLA: An eyewitness’ crucial statement is that he saw Arjun along with the lorry laden with timber and the high-tension electric line falling into the river. A local resident identified as Nagesh Gowda revealed this to a media. He said that he saw this when he came to collect wood from the Gangavali river during the landslide in Shirur.

‘Saw a lorry moving towards the river with tonnes of mud that had fallen from the hill. The mud first pushed the teashop which was on the bank towards the river. Then saw a lorry laden with timber falling into the river,’ clarified Nagesh.

Eyewitnesses said the high-tension line on top of the hill also snapped in the meantime and soon the water from the river gushed to the other side like a tsunami and destroyed the houses. Nagesh said that he saw the back of the lorry and the timber and the front part of the lorry was facing the hill and so the colour was not clear.

On the eighth day of the search for Arjun, the authorities first searched the mounds on the banks of the river. A boom excavator to remove mud from a depth of 60 feet has been brought to Ankola. In a search by the army yesterday evening, the area where the sonar signal was received will be searched using the boom. Top government officials said that a clarity would be obtained on the incident by this evening.