Karnataka High Court hears Ankola landslide PIL; Centre submits status report on rescue op

At least seven people were killed and several others are missing after the landslide in Karnataka’s Ankola on July 16.

Karnataka Karwar landslide Shirur Ankola

A total of seven bodies have been recovered from the site of the landslide and many are still missing. (Express Photo)

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding the landslide in the state’s Ankola area in the Uttara Kannada district, which left several people dead and missing. The hearing in the high court came a day after the matter was raised before the Supreme Court on Monday, which declined to hear the matter directly, referring it to be heard by the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

At least seven people were killed and several others are missing after the landslide on National Highway-66 near Karwar in Uttara Kannada on July 16. The GPS location of a truck driver from Kozhikode, Kerala, was found at the site, and authorities have said rescuers are trying to locate him and several others who are believed to have stopped at a roadside hotel when the landslide occurred.

The PIL was brought before the court by Advocates Siji Malayil and Subhash Chandran. Among the concerns raised in the petition were the alleged emphasis on clearing rubble in the initial work by authorities as opposed to finding the missing people, and also alleging that several people from Kerala with relevant expertise were “handled badly” by the Karnataka Police.

The petition requested the court to issue a writ directing all possible steps to clear all the debris and locate stranded survivors, as well as a direction for the Union of India to deploy armed forces for the rescue operation.

Deputy Solicitor General Shanti Bhushan, representing the Union of India, also presented a status report on the matter. According to the report, the bodies of seven people out of 10 missing have been recovered in the ongoing operation. Two diving teams from the Indian Navy were deployed by July 17, and two days later SONAR teams from the force also joined the operation, it added. A disaster relief team and an engineering team from the Indian Army were deployed by July 21, along with a ferrous bomb locator, which can detect metal up to 20 metres, brought from Pune.

The matter is set to be heard further on Wednesday afternoon.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram