Ankola Landslide: One truck located in Gangavali River, says Minister Krishna Byre Gowda
Bengaluru: Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda announced on Wednesday that a truck has been located in the Gangavali River amid the ongoing search for 3 victims who went missing after a landslide in Shirur on July 16. One among them is truck driver Arjun, a native of Kerala.
Minister Byre Gowda confirmed on X that a truck has been definitively identified in the river, and naval deep divers will soon attempt to anchor it. A long boom excavator is being used to dredge the river, while an advanced drone-based Intelligent Underground Buried Object Detection system has been deployed. The Coast Guard will conduct a helicopter search for any bodies in the water, he said.
Update on operation at Shiroor landslide.
— Krishna Byre Gowda (@krishnabgowda) July 24, 2024
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…
The search for the victims, now in its ninth day, intensified with the arrival of a long boom excavator at the Gangavali River, where a sonar signal had detected metal parts. The excavator will remove mud from a depth of 60 meters. Additionally, a state-of-the-art radio frequency scanner is set to aid in locating Arjun and two other missing individuals.
ALSO READ: Bihar woman found dead with throat slit in Bengaluru, police suspect murder
The Navy and disaster management forces are employing advanced technology, including sonar and radar, in the search operations. Former army officer M Indrabalan will also join the mission with sophisticated surveillance equipment. Four expert teams from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Surathkal have also arrived to assist.
The Karnataka government clarified that there was no delay in initiating the rescue mission for Arjun. The search began immediately after the complaint was received on the night of July 19, with operations starting on July 20. The Karnataka High Court has also been informed of the rescue effort.
The landslide, which occurred on National Highway 66, led to significant damage and injuries. Rescue operations commenced shortly after the incident, with efforts involving national and state disaster management forces, the fire services, the navy, and local authorities. The government had initially warned against moving the soil quickly to avoid triggering further landslides.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
