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Father, mother, 3-year-old son killed in landslide in Karnataka’s Shivamogga
When a hillside in Thirthahalli gave way, a retaining wall fell on a house, causing it to collapse over makeshift tents where about 25 migrant labourers were asleep.
The incident took place around 3 am in the Indira Nagar area, where about 25 migrant labourers were living in makeshift tents. (Photo by special arrangement)
A landslide claimed the lives of three members of a family who were asleep early on Sunday at Thirthahalli in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district.
The police identified the victims as Mallikarjun, 35, his wife Nagaveni, 28, and their son Santosh, 3, all natives of Koppal district who moved to Thirthahalli just four days ago in search of a job.
The incident took place around 3 am in the Indira Nagar area, where about 25 migrant labourers were living in makeshift tents. When a saturated hillside gave way following heavy rain, a retaining wall fell on a house, causing it to collapse over the tents. While the occupants of the house ran out, the other migrant labourers in the tents also escaped, sources said.
Lakshman, an eyewitness, said, “There was a noise of some stones falling onto the roof. I went out and suspected that there could be a landslide. I immediately alerted others. We started waking up everyone to come out.”
“While most of them came out, Mallikarjun was packing bags and Nagaveni stayed to feed her
son. In less than a minute, everything crashed. We tried our best to rescue them, but we were unable to. We managed to save Hanumanthu, another migrant labourer,” he added.
Lakshman said the migrant labourers are from villages in Raichur, Yadgir, Davangere, and Koppal districts. “As there is drought and no jobs, we moved here to work on farmlands,” he added.
Bodies retrieved by 10 am
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Rescue workers reached the place by 5 am and retrieved the bodies by 10 am on Sunday.
Thirthahalli MLA and former minister Araga Jnanendra, along with former minister Kimmane Rathnakar, visited the landslide site.
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara wrote on X, “It is tragic that a poor family that had come from a distant village to settle down and work as labourers has met such a disastrous end. I have already spoken with the district officials and instructed them to carry out relief work and provide all kinds of assistance to the affected people.”
The rescued migrant labourers were shifted to a camp.
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