An extensive search operation on Thursday failed to locate at least two people reported missing after a mechanised country boat sank in the Brahmaputra off Guwahati on Wednesday afternoon.
But fishermen found the wreckage of the boat at Srihati near silk village Sualkuchi, about 25 km downstream of Guwahati.
Officials said an armed forces chopper and drones aided some 150 rescue workers, comprising personnel from the Army, the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force, in the search. The river’s strong current hampered the search operations.
Assam Inland Water Transport (IWT) Department director Bharat Bhushan Dev Choudhury said there were 24 passengers and seven motorcycles aboard the boat. Two boat operators and three IWT personnel were also on board.
“Three people were reported dead yesterday (Wednesday). But the official figures are two dead, two missing and 20 rescued. The three IWT men on board helped save some of the passengers,” Mr. Dev Choudhury told The Hindu .
Survivors, however, said there were close to 40 people on board. Mechanised country boats, popularly known as bhootbhooti , are known to carry more people than they are authorised to.
A check of documents at the ferry counter revealed 22 people were issued tickets on the boat that had no life jackets and was overloaded.
The police arrested the two boat operators and launched a manhunt for the boat’s owner.
4 officials suspended
Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said four IWT officials have been suspended in view of the accident. They are executive engineer Vikramaditya Choudhury, Guwahati Ferry Ghat in-charge Purnananda Das and section officers Dharmeswar Baishya and Jagadish Das.
Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the families of two Class XI students — Ankita Barua and Dimpee Das — who died in the accident, as well as the two who are missing. “I feel the number of people missing is being exaggerated. Families of the victims are saying two are missing. If more people are missing, their families should contact the administration,” he said.
The area, North Guwahati facing Guwahati on the opposite bank of the river, falls under Mr. Sarma’s Assembly constituency.
The Transport Department had suspended services of mechanised boats soon after the incident and provided extra buses for the people of north Guwahati to travel to and from Guwahati. But the boat services were resumed on Thursday because of demand, as the buses take a long time via a circuitous route.
Mr. Sarma said work on a bridge connecting the two banks would commence in six months, for which a loan of ₹2,000 crore had been sanctioned. “The bridge is scheduled to be completed by 2022,” he said.
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