Uttar Kannada: A 37-year-old driver hailing from Tamil Nadu was pulled out alive at around 4 AM Wednesday after the current carried off his truck following the breaching of a bridge over the Kali River at Karwar, which is in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. This sad event took place at around 2:00 am when the bridge that borders Karnataka with Goa collapsed, hence submerging the truck in the river.
The driver of the ill-fated vehicle that was caught in the bridge collapse incident has been identified as Balu Murugan, who came from Goa to Hubballi. However much the truck was submerged, with the help of his striking weapon, Murugan cracked the truck’s windscreen and got onto the roof of the truck. What can be sadder is that he was ignored even when he started sending distress signals, only to be noticed by a patrol policeman. Murugan was then taken to a hospital in Karwar, and according to the Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Krishna Priya, he is out of danger; once he is fit to be moved, he will be released and sent home.
The mishap has triggered a worry of flooding, especially since the Kali River continues to rise due to the past week’s rains. The district administration under section officer Krishna Priya, who is the district administrative head, is preparing to deal with the flood.
Further elaborating this, the Police Superintendent of Uttara Kannada, Narayan M., stated that while the elastic of the bridge came down partially, the truck was also buried and further ten minutes saw the rest of the bridge come crashing down. Local police and other professional divers are trying to find out whether any other such vehicles had an involvement prior to the Tamil Nadu truck.
Subsequently, in a similar manner, traffic on another bridge over the Kali River to Goa was stopped on Wednesday morning. Nevertheless, Narayan M. added that there are other ways to get to Goa and that traffic issues were being addressed to a considerable extent. The police are guarding all bridges in the region, and traffic is being controlled to avoid any more complications; some bridges allow only a few cars to cross at a time.
Check here for the latest updates in Hindi!