Karnataka landslide: Missing lorry driver's family claims delay in rescue operation
Kozhikode(Kerala) (PTI): The family of the Malayalee lorry driver Arjun, who has been missing since July 16 after his truck was caught in a massive landslide in a village in Karnataka, on Saturday claimed there was a delay in the rescue operation being carried out there.
His sister told media that the Karnataka police were informed on July 16 itself that he was missing and later further details, including his truck's GPS location, were communicated to them, but till date there is no information available about his whereabouts.
"If there is so much delay, what hope should we hold on to? If they did not have the requisite facilities there, they should have brought it from where the same is available," she said.
Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran, who visited the family in the morning, told reporters that the rescue operations were expedited following effective intervention from the Kerala government and prominent political parties in the state.
"Hope it will be fruitful," he said.
He further said that besides a team of Motor Vehicle Department officials from Kerala, a police team from the state was also present at the site where the landslide occurred and they were providing regular reports about the status of the rescue efforts.
The minister also said that equipment like ground penetrating radar and metal detectors have reached the site to help with the rescue efforts.
Meanwhile, an MVD officer present at the landslide site told reporters that the Karnataka officials were hopeful of finding the truck by afternoon.
Arjun's family is hopeful he will be rescued and returned to them as his mobile phone was ringing even on Friday morning and the GPS tracker on his truck was emitting a signal, placing the vehicle somewhere underneath the massive mound of mud and rock debris.
On Friday, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan got in touch with Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah over the issue.
According to the family, they last spoke to Arjun on Monday after which there has been no contact from him.
Six bodies have been recovered after the landslide incident on July 16.
Vehicular traffic has been temporarily suspended on National Highway 66 following the landslide.
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India and Pakistan war could have been nuclear, 10 planes were shot down: Trump
New York/Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump repeated the claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan last year, which he said could have turned nuclear, through tariffs.
"I settled eight wars. Of the eight wars, at least six were settled because of tariffs. In other words, I said, ‘if you don't settle this war, I'm going to charge you tariffs, because I don't want to see people getting killed,” Trump said in an interview to Fox Business Tuesday.
"And they said, ‘Well, what does this have to do?’ I said, ‘you're going to be charged’. Like India and Pakistan. It would have been a nuclear war, in my opinion. They were really going at it, 10 planes were shot down. They were going at it,” Trump said.
He added that the Prime Minister of Pakistan said, ‘President Trump saved at least 10 million lives when he got us to stop fighting’. Because they were going to go nuclear, (in) my opinion. Without tariffs, that wouldn't happen,” Trump said.
Trump has claimed credit for stopping the India-Pakistan conflict for more that 80 times since May 10 last year, when he announced on social media that the two neighbours had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after talks mediated by Washington.
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
