It has been more than 6 days since the Ankola landslide in Uttara Kannada on July 16. The landslide, which caused massive destruction in Shirur and washed away parts of the Gangavali river and NH-66, claimed the lives of at least 7 people and several more are still missing.

While the state machinery’s response to the disaster seems to be taking shape with the expected arrival of the Indian Army team and the Navy’s Sea-Bird team to expedite the search operations, the people of Kerala have accused the Karnataka government of being slow and lackluster in its response to the unfolding disaster. Their anger has been further fueled by reports that one of the victims, identified as Arjun, who hails from Kozhikode in Kerala, is still trapped under the rubble.

Arjun, a truck driver, is said to have stopped at a tea stall near the site of the landslide. The GPS location of Arjun’s BharatBenz truck, owned by a Mr. Munaf, who is also at the site where the search operations are underway, is said to have been found under the rubble.

While Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier written to his Karnataka counterpart to expedite the search process and rescue the Kerala resident trapped under the mud, Kerala residents feel that the rescue operations have taken far too long to make any difference.

Kerald residents have started the #savearjun campaign on social media and have flooded Siddaramaiah’s Facebook page with requests for help in the search for Arjun.

Social media users have even gone so far as to tag influential people ranging from government ministers to the likes of Elon Musk.

In the meantime, Living right also reported that a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court requesting deployment of the army to save Arjun’s life.

Home Minister HD Kumaraswamy visited the site yesterday and Siddaramaiah is expected to visit the spot on Sunday.