Arjun's rescue: radar receives signal; to be confirmed whether from lorry

Mangaluru: The search for Arjun, a Keralite who went missing in a landslide at Shirur near Angola in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada, is still going on. The inspection using the radar that was brought from Mangaluru on Saturday morning is now in progress. Although a signal was received from the radar, it is yet to be confirmed that the signal is from the buried trucker, in which Arjun and others were travelling and got trapped in the landslide. Three people, including Arjun, have been stuck underground for five days.

Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan suggested the use of radar for the search.

At present, an intensive search is being done by shifting the soil at the spot. Rain has stopped currently in the area, which is helping the rescue operations. Navy, NDRF, SDRF, fire brigade, and police were all involved in the search.

Last day, the bodies of seven people were found after they got killed in a landslip on National Highway 66 near Uttara Kannada Karwar in Shirur village of Ankola.

This is where Arjun, his lorry, got trapped in a landslide on Tuesday. However, it was only on Friday, after the Kerala government reached out to the Karnataka administration, that rescue operations were intensified. The failure of the authorities to assess the impact of the accident slowed down the rescue operation.

Meanwhile, Arjun's family sent an email message to the Prime Minister demanding that the army be sent to find him. They said that Karnataka authorities failed for two days, and they lost faith in the current rescue mission. The email demanded authorities release the exact information about how many people are trapped underground along with Arjun. The family requested that people from Kerala be sent for the rescue operation.

Arjun's family, including mother Sheela and sister Anju, spoke to the media.