Santosh Koti's Body Recovered From River After Tipper Falls From Korthi-Kolhar Bridge

The body of a tipper driver, who fell into a river along with his vehicle from the Korthi-Kolhar bridge on the Vijayapura–Hubballi National Highway in Bilagi, was recovered on Friday. The recovery followed a two-day search operation after the vehicle plunged into the water on Wednesday.

The deceased driver has been identified as Santosh Koti. Emergency services personnel launched a continuous search operation immediately after the accident occurred on Wednesday. The recovery operation concluded on Friday when both the tipper vehicle and Koti's body were successfully retrieved from the river.

Personnel from the Fire and Emergency Services led the challenging two-day operation. To pull the heavy tipper vehicle and the driver's body out of the river, the emergency teams had to deploy a crane at the site of the accident on the Korthi-Kolhar bridge.

Following the successful retrieval from the river, the body of Santosh Koti was shifted to the Bilagi government hospital. At the hospital, medical professionals conducted a post-mortem examination. After the completion of the medical procedures, the driver's body was handed over to his family members.

A team of high-ranking local officials participated in and supervised the rescue and recovery operation at the river. The officials present during the two-day effort included Bagalkot Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Gajanan Sutar, District Fire and Emergency Services Officer Prakash Pawar, Circle Police Inspector (CPI) Hanamanth Sanamani, Taluk Fire and Emergency Services Officer Anand Chinagundi, and Kolhar Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Naik.

Local authorities have confirmed that further investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident is currently ongoing. The police are working to establish how the tipper driver lost control of the vehicle, leading to the fatal fall from the Korthi-Kolhar bridge on the national highway.