Ankola landslide: Political slugfest over missing Kerala truck driver in Karnataka

A truck driver from Kerala missing in Karnataka has triggered a virtual war between the two states. And the distraught mother of driver Arjun is majorly upset with the Karnataka authorities.

“I have lost all the confidence I once had in the administration and the police in Karnataka as well as in the Central government. However, I still have faith in our MP, the media and our people, regardless of party affiliations,” Sheela told the media.

“If the Central government was serious about helping to find him, the military contingent would have been better equipped. We were hoping my son would come back alive, just like those who were rescued from the tunnel disaster. But now that hope is fading. It feels like they are trying to prove that the truck is not there,” she added.

A mother’s anguish

Sheela went on: “It is not just our predicament; women from Tamil Nadu are also searching for their loved ones. My younger son, who is (in Karnataka), told me that the police chased those women away.”

She said the Karnataka officials had initially promised to keep the family updated and even sent some pictures of the rescue operation. But she alleged that they later deleted those WhatsApp messages.

What happened?

Arjun, a driver from Kozhikode, was operating a Benz lorry (KA-15-A-7427). He has been missing since a devastating landslide at Shirur in Karnataka on July 16 damaged homes and swept vehicles into the floodwaters of the Gangavali river which runs alongside the highway.

Sheela’s words reflect the prevailing mood across Kerala as the search for Arjun and his truck has brought only despair.

Rescue efforts continue

On day nine of the search, rescuers are focusing on the Gangavali. Radars and Sonar (Sound Navigation and Ranging) systems have detected a submerged metal object deep in the water, which could provide a crucial lead.

The four-day long search along the highway, buried under mud and rocks from a displaced hill, proved in vain as the truck was not found anywhere it was expected to be.

According to the Karnataka Police, the landslide caused mud from the national highway side to flow toward the Gangavali river, burying trucks, gas tankers, other vehicles and the house-cum-hotel of Lakshmana Bommaiah Naik. So far, 10 bodies have been recovered from beneath the debris and the river.

Coming out with an update on the rescue operation, Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda posted on X, “One truck has been definitively located in the water and that the naval deep divers will attempt anchoring shortly. The long arm boomer excavator will be used to dredge the river. Advanced drone based Intelligent Underground Buried Object Detection system was also deployed for search. The Coast Guard will do a helicopter search for missing bodies in water.”

Media shakes up officials

Arjun might have been presumed dead, were it not for the information provided by his family and the truck owner, who reported that his mobile telephone continued to ring until the morning of July 17 and that the vehicle’s GPS was still transmitting signals from the site.

Initially, the Karnataka authorities were unresponsive to the claims made by a group from Kerala, including truck owner Manaf, who arrived at the site on July 17. However, after the Malayalam media, particularly live television, extensively covered the issue, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kozhikode MP M.K. Raghavan took swift action.

The chief minister sent an urgent letter to his Karnataka counterpart, urging the use of ground-penetrating radar technology due to the possibility that Arjun might still be alive even after 48 hours.

Siddaramaiah intervenes

The rescue and search operations rapidly intensified following intervention from the chief minister and other politicians, with Congress leaders from Kerala also establishing communication with the Karnataka government.

“When we arrived here, no one was willing to listen to us. After the (Karnataka) chief minister’s intervention, the situation changed. Some police officials asked us who among us was so influential that political leaders from the chief minister to the Leader of the Opposition got involved,” truck owner Munaf said. “I said neither I nor the driver is influential but that’s just how Malayalees are.”

Kerala’s solidarity

The situation changed rapidly when Malayalam news television extensively covered the event, exerting significant pressure on the authorities. Rescue workers from Kerala began arriving at the site to volunteer, which at times hindered ongoing operations and created tension between the local police and the volunteers.

After 96 hours of fruitless search efforts, the army was brought in. By the end of the sixth day, they declared that there was no sign of the truck beneath the mud and debris.

Political slugfest

As extensive media coverage and various theories circulated, a mood of distrust developed between the Malayalees and the Karnataka authorities. Even though the Kerala state officials and political leadership stayed clear from the controversy, the situation took on a political tone.

Social media posts began accusing the Congress government of negligence and comparing the response to recent rescue operations in Kerala during similar natural disasters.

The Karnataka government has submitted a report to the high court stating that there was no negligence on its part. They received the missing person complaint for Arjun only on July 19 from his relatives. Additionally, they assert that a warning was issued early on to avoid any earth removal due to the risk of further landslides.

Karnataka defends itself

“The landslide in Shirur should not be underestimated. It was a major event, far from a minor local incident. I do not think the Karnataka authorities were negligent or anything. The initial response from local authorities might have lacked enthusiasm, but this was somewhat expected. But the media coverage was crucial, and the rescue operations after that was commendable.

“You cannot expect the sensitivity of Kerala a state with high literacy rate. What we need in such conditions is a unified effort understanding that each state follows its own methods,” opined Subin Babu, a road safety auditor with the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC).

As the situation took a political turn with a group of people protesting in Kozhikode, the Congress cyber team in Kerala began defending the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka.

Congress vs CPI(M)

According to them, the Congress government is doing everything it can, and some factions in Kerala are trying to gain political advantage from it. The social media battle between the CPI(M) and the Congress cyber wings primarily revolves around the differences in the approaches of the two state governments.

CPI(M) activists highlight how the state, particularly Pinarayi Vijayan, spearheaded rescue operations and crisis management during the floods of 2018 and 2019 as well as during the Covid pandemic.

Now that the land search operation has yielded nothing, the team of military personnel and Karnataka state officials are focusing on the river and its mouth leading to the Arabian Sea.