Assam: NDRF joins rescue ops to find six missing in boat accident

Six people, including four children, went missing after a machine-operated boat sank in Assam’s Brahmaputra river in Barpeta. Rescue operations by NDRF, SDRF, police, and locals are ongoing. Most passengers were rescued, but no one wore life jackets

Barpeta: The NDRF on Wednesday joined the rescue efforts to trace six people who went missing after a machine-operated country boat sank in the Brahmaputra river in Assam’s Barpeta district a day ago, officials said.

Barpeta Revenue Circle Field Officer Jyotirmoy Choudhury said that search operations by multiple agencies resumed this morning.

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“So far, there is no news about the missing people. Experts are working very hard to find them,” he said, adding that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) joined the rescue operations.

At least six people, including four children, went missing after the machine-operated country boat sank in the Brahmaputra river in Barpeta district on Tuesday afternoon.

The police, civil administration and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel started rescue operations with the help of locals immediately after the tragedy.

The accident took place when the boat, carrying 22 people, was going to Borghul char (riverine vegetative islands) from Rahampur.

“When the boat was sailing, it reportedly came into contact with a whirlpool and sank. Most of the people were rescued by a nearby boat,” Choudhury had said.

According to the locals, the boat was sailing without any safety measures.

None of the passengers was wearing life jackets, Choudhury had added.

The missing people have been identified as Madhu Mia (60), Sukurjan Nesa (45), Amina Parbin (8), Rahul Amin (7), Aryan Islam (4) and Junufa Yasmin (5), he said.