Shirur Landslide: Pinarayi Vijayan requests Siddaramaiah to continue efforts to find missing Kerala lorry driver

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday wrote to his counterpart in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, requesting that his government continue the rescue operations to find Arjun, the lorry driver from Kozhikode who went missing in a landslide at Shirur there recently.

In the letter, Vijayan said his government appreciates the efforts taken by the teams engaged in the search-and-rescue operations to find the missing person. There have been reports that search operations have been stopped, he said, adding, “I earnestly urge you to give directions to continue the rescue operations till they yield positive results.”

Vijayan also requested that the operations be continued with augmented strength and using all needed equipment.

Later, the Kerala CM posted on social media platform X that he wrote to Siddaramaiah to express appreciation for the search-and-rescue teams’ dedication to locating Arjun.

“Wrote to Karnataka CM @siddaramaiah to express appreciation for the search & rescue teams’ dedication in locating Arjun, who went missing in a tragic landslide in Shirur, Karnataka. As there are reports of operations stopping, we requested him to give directions to continue the rescue operations till they yield positive results,” Vijayan said in his X post.

Arjun was driving a lorry loaded with timber to Kozhikode when the landslide occurred on July 16. He has been missing for the past 12 days now.

Multiple agencies have been conducting a search mission to find him at the landslide site.