Daijiworld News Network - Puttur (GA)

Puttur, Aug 19: The bodies of two persons who had drowned when the lorry they were travelling had been washed away on Hosmath Bridge near Uppinangady here on Tuesday August 15 were finally fished out from the river at Nadolu on Friday August 18.

The relatives of the lorry driver Manjunath and cleaner Umesh have identified the bodies.  However, the bodies of Suresh and Sandeep who too were in the same lorry have not yet been traced.

As reported earlier, a lorry carrying cement to Kadaba had been washed away in the Gundya River while crossing the submerged Hosmath Bridge.  It is said that the lorry driver had driven ahead despite people telling him not to cross the bridge when it was still under waters.

Despite rescue operations and the continued search for drowned men by expert divers, bodies were not found till Friday.  However, on Friday, Kadaba police inspector Nandakumar had constituted 3 teams of expert swimmers of the region.  The teams from Nujibaltila and Nadolu finally succeeded in tracing the drowned men.

While driver Manjunath's body was identified by his brother on the basis of the clothes worn and a wound on the legs of Manjunath, Umesh's body was identified by his uncle Keshav.  The bodies were handed over to their respective families after conducting autopsy at Kadaba government hospital.

However, all efforts to take out the lorry from the river have failed so far.  Since the water level in the river has been increasing every-now-and-then, it has become difficult to lift the lorry from the water.