Shirur landslide: As search ops resume today, here’s a timeline of events since July 16

The district administration had initially decided to begin the operations from Tuesday but waited for the weather conditions to be favourable. “The rain has receded and the water current has also slowed down significantly which is why we have resumed the search operations,” said a state government officer.

Landslide alert and recovery of three bodies

Soon after the incident, the district administration received information from the district disaster management officer (DDMO) prompting the state government to deploy one NDRF team under the command of Inspector Arunoday Diwedi along with 34 rescuers to the spot. On the same day, search and rescue operations were conducted in two places, one at landslide point and other in the Gangavali river as local fishermen spotted one female’s dead body in the river approximately 7 km away from the incident site. They also recovered two more bodies from near the landslide spot.

Securing LPG gas tanker

On July 17, the NDRF team along with the assistance of the Navy and the Coast Guard located an LPG gas tanker floating on Gangavali river and secured it to a nearby tree with the help of a rope. Meanwhile, the NDRF team assisted the civil administration in clearing the debris from the NH 66.

‘Tons of silt poured down’

On July 18, the NDRF team, while assisting the district administration in clearing the huge amount of mud and debris on the national highway, recovered another body. Local residents and taxi drivers who were witness to the incident described that tonnes of silt poured down onto the highway.

“Just imagine 100 tonnes of silt raining down heavily onto the road and swallowing everything that came its way. That is exactly what happened on July 16. From the dhaba to the trucks on the road, everything was swept away in minutes and was discharged right into the Gangavali river. The river took a monstrous avatar with heavy rain lashing continuously for days together. The debris of the hills, the timber logs from Arjun’s truck, his lorry…everything was submerged,” said Vinay Kumar, a local taxi driver.

Hunt for Arjun and his timber-laden truck

In contrast to the full swing operations involving the Army, Navy, SDRF, NDRF and the district administration, eye witnesses and local residents say that the state government rose to the occasion only two-three days after the incident. By July 21 hopes were high to locate Arjun and his timber-laden truck that was heading from Kozhikode to Belagavi. With pressure mounting from Kerala government and a wave of solidarity campaign for Arjun, the NDRF team prioritized recovery of the missing truck.
Arjun had parked his vehicle near the dhaba which was later swept away by the landslide. Two JCBs, six poclain machines and two dumpers were deployed to remove the debris and locate the truck. On July 21 afternoon, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah along with the relief commissioner inspected the site, following which two Army teams were deployed to aid in the rescue operations.

Deployment of Ferrous Bomb Locator

Apart from the machinery deployed to clear the silt and debris to locate the truck, the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief teams of the Army deployed Ferrous Bomb Locator, specially moved from Pune. The equipment specializes in locating metal/metal body up to 20 metres underground. Rescue teams of the Army from Maratha Light Infantry and specialists from the College of Military Engineering (CME), Pune, were assisting the district administration in the disaster relief operations.

Breakthrough on July 24

The rescue teams hit a significant breakthrough after eight days on July 24, when they confirmed and locked the coordinates of the lorry driven by Arjun that had gone missing since the landslide on July 16. Police officer Narayana M stated that with the help of the Navy and Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) satellite, the disaster management personnel got a confirmation on a large metal body lying in the Gangavali river. Helicopters were swung into action to further locate and lock the coordinates, to enable naval deep diver to scour the marked region.

Meanwhile on July 25, Rtd Maj Gen M Indrabalan who headed a drone operation, confirmed that Arjun’s truck is likely to be in the downstream area of the Gangavali river. This was achieved using the Ebinger Ferromagnetic Locator, which is a Drone Intelligent Buried Object Detection System (DIBODS) deployed for the operations to locate the missing cabin of Arjun’s truck in the landslide hit region of Shirur. The system specializes in capturing radio frequency signatures and metallic signatures from metal objects located beneath the river, with the capability to penetrate through the debris/silt.

Closing in on Arjun’s truck

The district administration has currently zeroed in on four spots from where the drone team captured metallic and radio frequency signatures. Of the four spots, one of the spots located downstream the river is where the rescuers suspect the cabin and the truck container could be. This was based on high radio frequency signals captured by DIBODS. Therefore, after 10 days of operation, the state government finally managed to locate the truck’s cabin and the container that carried about 400 logs of timber. The rescuers suspect that locating the cabin would mean locating Arjun, who is possibly trapped inside following the landslide.

Eshwar Maple team roped in

The district administration has roped in famous underwater rescuer and recovery expert Eshwar Malpe and his team to locate the missing bodies. On July 28, the 13th day of operation, Malpe and his team of seven divers led the rescue efforts in the Gangavali River. While Malpe managed to dive into the river and descend about 20 feet underwater, he came out unsuccessful because of zero visibility and strong water currents flowing at the speed of 20 knots. Hence, the district administration decided to suspend the rescue operations.