Arunachal: Six bodies retrieved as search intensifies in Anjaw tragedy

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Six bodies were retrieved on Friday from the accident site in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh, by a joint team of NDRF and Army, a senior police official said.

The rescue operation which started at the first ray of the day, managed to bring six bodies from the deep gorge, where the ill-fated vehicle carrying 22 labourers from Assam's Tinsukia district fell, Anjaw Superintendent of Police (SP) Anurag Dwivedi informed.

"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain and the gorge which is very deep," the SP said.

Dwivedi, who personally monitored the rescue operation, informed that 18 bodies have been spotted in the site and search for the remaining three missing would continue after retrieval of all the bodies. Rescue operations will continue from Saturday morning again, he added.

At least 18 people from Assam's Tinsukia district have been killed and three others are missing as the truck they were travelling in fell into a remote gorge in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, officials said on Thursday.

Arunachal Pradesh Disaster Management Secretary Dani Salu in a statement on Thursday said that a massive multi-agency search-and-retrieval operation is underway in the border district after a privately owned mini-truck carrying labourers plunged into a deep gorge near Hayuliang, leaving at least 18 dead and several others missing.

Salu said he spoke with Anjaw deputy commissioner Millo Kojin, who briefed him on the sequence of events and the challenges faced by local authorities in accessing the accident site.

According to the DC's briefing, the accident appears to have occurred on December 8, in the evening hours, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam. However, the district administration received no information about the crash either on December 9 or during the day on December 10.

"Around the evening of December 10, one of the survivors managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby BRTF labour camp, where he was given immediate medical aid," Salu said.

The Officer Commanding of the BRTF subsequently alerted the deputy commissioner. Due to the late hour, extremely treacherous terrain, and unreliable weather, a rescue attempt that night was deemed unsafe. Requisition to the NDRF was sent immediately, Salu said.

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