STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Rescue teams recovered the body of another person who had been swept away by the strong currents of the Brahmaputra while bathing at Kharghuli in Guwahati earlier this week.
Officials said the deceased was identified as Pratap Rai, an 18-year-old resident of Biswanath Chariali. His body was traced during ongoing search operations by teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force. Earlier, the body of Raunak Sadhak, from Bongaigaon had also been recovered from the river.
The incident had occurred on the morning of December 10 when a group of nine people visited the Brahmaputra riverbank near Kharghuli after a trip to Bhakti Kutir, a Krishna temple located in the nearby hills. According to rescue officials, three members of the group, who were confident swimmers, entered the river first and reached a sandbar midstream. From there, they reportedly warned the others against entering the water due to its depth and strong current.
Despite the caution, six members of the group stepped into the river moments later and were quickly caught by the swift flow. While one person managed to swim back to safety, the remaining five were swept downstream. Four members of the group survived the incident, including American national Jacob Knutsen and Indian-origin Australian nationals Pranav Nair and Keshav Verma.
Three persons remain untraced: Upesh Kumar aged 43, and Sagar Gautam from Biswanath Chariali and Gurugram respectively, and Abhijeet, a 20-year-old from Uzan Bazar in Guwahati. Search teams continued diving operations along the river stretch, though officials acknowledged that the chances of finding survivors were rapidly diminishing.
Meanwhile, relatives of the missing men gathered at the riverbank, expressing anguish and frustration over the lack of clarity surrounding the incident. Family members questioned the absence of the survivors during the search operations and raised concerns over whether adequate questioning had been conducted. Police said they were examining all aspects of the case as the search efforts continued.
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