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Hundreds pay homage to lorry driver Arjun, killed in Karnataka landslide
Hundreds paid respects to a lorry driver from Kerala, Arjun, whose body was found after 71 days in river following a massive landslide in Karnataka's Shirur.
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Hundreds of people queued up for hours to pay their last respects to Kerala lorry driver Arjun when his mortal remains were brought to his native village of Kannadikkal in this district, from Karnataka on Saturday morning.
Arjun, along with his vehicle, went missing in a river following a massive landslide that struck Shirur village in Karnataka in July.
The body of the deceased youth and his lorry were recovered on Wednesday from the river, more than two months after the disaster, through a massive search mission. State Forest Minister A K Saseendran and other officials received the body when the ambulance entered the Kerala border this morning. MLAs Thottathil Raveendran and K K Rema and district authorities accompanied the ambulance along with a large number of other vehicles later. Emotional scenes were witnessed as the ambulance entered Kannadikkal village, with Arjun's friends, neighbours, and fellow drivers breaking into tears.
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As the motorcade passed through the area, many people waiting on either side of the road were visibly struggling to hold back their tears.
People from all walks of life gathered at Arjun's house when his body was placed there for public homage.
"We believed till a few days back that Arjun was alive and might be under treatment somewhere and he would come back... never thought his body would be brought home," a teary-eyed woman, who is Arjun's neighbour, said.
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Besides A K Saseendran and transport minister K B Ganesh Kumar, Lok Sabha MP M K Raghavan and state MLAs were among other officials who visited the house of Arjun to pay their last respects.
An emotional Saseendran said he had never seen such a huge crowd to bid tearful adieu to a person in recent times.
Raghavan said the entire state and its people had come together to trace Arjun and the 71-days-long rescue mission was rare in the history of the country. He also thanked the Karnataka government for their support to recover the remains of the missing lorry driver. In the presence of family members and people's representatives, Arjun's younger brother Abhijith lit the pyre later.
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The July 16 landslide on National Highway 66 claimed the lives of eight people in Shirur village in Uttara Kannada district.
With the recovery of Arjun's body, the death toll had gone up to nine, authorities said.
The search operations, started soon after the landslide, were halted on July 28 due to adverse weather conditions, high river currents and other factors.
