Massive Landslide in Uttar Kannada: Four Lives Lost and Highway Shut Down

Four people, including members of the same family, lost their lives in a landslide at Shirur village, Uttar Kannada. The incident prompted a temporary suspension of traffic on National Highway 66. Rescue operations involved local police, National Disaster Response Force, and other agencies. The landslide was linked to steep hill cuts made during the highway's construction.

Search and rescue operations resumed on Wednesday morning in Shirur village in Uttar Kannada district, where a massive landslide claimed the lives of four people a day ago.

Vehicular traffic has been temporarily suspended on National Highway 66, where the incident occurred, officials said. After an intensive rescue and search operation by the local police, a team of National Disaster Response Force, fire and emergency services and officials of other agencies amid rains, four bodies were recovered by Tuesday evening.

'So far, four bodies have been recovered and identified. Restoration and search operations have resumed early morning today,' a senior police official said.

Among the four dead were members of the same family, who ran an eatery along the national highway.

Following the incident, the state government had said that three gas tankers had pulled up at the eatery for a tea break when mud and rocks plunged down the hill.

The landslip triggered by incessant rains also swept away two of the three tankers into the Gangavali river flowing on the other side of the road.

According to the state government, the National Highways Authority of India while building National Highway 66 'cut the hill steep instead of a 45-degree slope resulting in the accident.' Meanwhile, vehicular movement has been banned till July 22 in Seethalayanagiri-Mullayanagiri area of Chikkamagaluru taluk due to collapse of hills and severe damage to the road surface owing to heavy rains.

(With inputs from agencies.)