A team of divers and dredgers found on Wednesday the body of Arjun, a truck driver from Kerala’s Kozhikode, and his vehicle in the Gangavali river at Shirur in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.
The team was able to locate the mangled vehicle and recover the body from the cabin, after a six-day operation. The truck’s owner, Manaf, confirmed that the cabin lifted from the river was indeed from his truck, marking the end of a 72-day-long wait.
Manaf also said the body, which is suspected to be Arjun’s, was also found inside the vehicle.The authorities will conduct DNA tests on the body to confirm whether it is Arjun. His brother has already provided his DNA samples to the authorities.
Arjun had been missing since July 16, when the landslide swept his Bharat-Benz truck, loaded with 40 tonnes of timber, off Panvel-Kanyakumari NH-66 near Shirur. Despite spotting the truck a week after the incident, efforts to retrieve it were hindered by the river’s depth and strong current.
Retired Major General Indrabalan Nair was leading the search operations after it resumed on Saturday. He told the media that the dredging team from Mahindra did an incredible job in finding the lorry.