Boat capsizes near Dhubri; official missing

A CORRESPONDENT

DHUBRI: Three persons, including the Circle Officer of Dhubri, went missing when the country boat they were travelling in capsized at around 11 am on Thursday in the river Brahmaputra near Bhasanichar ghat, where L&T is constructing the Dhubri-Phulbari ghat.

According to official sources, Circle Officer Sanju Das along with field officer Peter Saha and Mandal Nomej Uddin, went to Amenerchar for inspection of erosion in the area in the morning.

While returning they approached the wooden bridge constructed by the L&T for the movement of workers and carrying materials, but along with some others they were obstructed by L&T workers, sources said.

A family member of one survivor informed that finding no other way out, they reserved a country boat to cross the narrow patch of the river channel, which nearly 30 to 35 persons boarded. However, while the boat was sailing it hit an under-construction pillar of the bridge and it capsized within no time.

Almost all the passengers of the boat somehow crossed the river as the water was chest deep, but due to undercurrent on the other side, three persons are reported to have floated away with the current and they still missing, family members of a survivor further informed.

When contacted, the Officer In-Charge of the Dhubri Police Station (Sadar), Mahadeb Bagchi informed that four teams of NDRF and SDRF were engaged in rescue operations, but till the filing of this report no missing person has been rescued.

Meanwhile, SDRF sources said in Guwahati that by evening only Sanju Das remained missing.

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