Karwar, 25 Sept

The body of missing Kerala lorry driver Arjun was recovered along with his vehicle on Wednesday from a river, more than two months after a landslide at Shirur village in Uttara Kannada district, police said.

The July 16 landslide on National Highway 66 claimed the lives of eight people. With the recovery of Arjun's body, the death toll has gone up to nine, they said.

The search operations started soon after the landslide were halted on July 28 due to adverse weather conditions, high river current and other factors.

However, they were resumed later. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah requesting him to resume operations to trace the lorry driver from Kozhikode.

"The body of missing driver from Kerala, Arjun was recovered along with his lorry from Gangawali river. The body was found inside the cabin of the vehicle," Superintendent of Police (Karwar), Narayana M, told PTI. -PTI