14 years since Mangaluru air crash: A tragic day in aviation history

Bengaluru: Search and rescue operations resumed on Wednesday morning in Shirur village in Uttara 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 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.

Bengaluru: Senior JD(S) MLA C B Suresh Babu is the party's leader in the Karnataka Assembly, Speaker U T Khader said on Monday.

The position fell vacant following JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy's election to the Lok Sabaha.

"JD(S) state President H D Kumaraswamy on July 14 has given a letter stating that Chikkanayakanahalli MLA C B Suresh Babu has been appointed as the JD(S) party leader (in the Assembly) and the same has to be recognised. Accordingly, Suresh Babu has been recognised as the JD(S) party leader," Khader told the House.

Kumaraswamy resigned as the MLA from Channapatna segment after his election to the Lok Sabha in the recent polls.

Mangaluru, July 18: Dozens of passengers had a narrow escape after a fire erupted in the engine of a KSRTC Airavat bus traveling from Bengaluru to Mangaluru at Uppinangady on National Highway 75 on Thursday morning.

The fire was quickly extinguished by the driver and conductor of the bus with the help of local residents.

At around 6:30 am on Thursday, as the bus reached Subrahmanya Curve in Uppinangady, smoke began to fill the interior. Upon stopping the bus, the fire in the engine intensified.

Panchayat staff Isaac and Iqbaal, along with local residents Snake Zakariya, Siddik Koppal, and Joy, rushed to the scene and helped extinguish the fire using water and sand from the riverbank. They had been observing the flood situation in the river from the roadside when they noticed the smoke.

The bus had departed from Bengaluru on Wednesday night at 10:30 pm. Due to traffic congestion in the Shiradi Ghat section, there was a three-hour delay. The fire erupted when the bus finally reached Uppinangady.

The passengers were transferred to another bus, according to Airavat bus conductor Ashok Jadhav.

Traffic movement was affected as the bus was parked on the road after the fire was spotted, causing a one-kilometer-long line of vehicles on both sides of the highway.