A CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: Four persons crossing the Brahmaputra in a country boat went missing after it capsized in the river in the Rohmoria area of the Dibrugarh district on Sunday.
The incident took place around 10 am when the boat with nine people, including the boatman and his helper was going from Polobhonga Chapori to Balijan ghat situated 7 km away.
The seven passengers on the boat were all milkmen and vegetable sellers who were supposed to sell their goods at the Sunday market at Balijan ghat.
According to locals, the boat was caught in the strong currents causing it to lose control and capsize. Five of them managed to swim away to safety. The incident took place around 3 km away from the Brahmaputra river bank. The five persons who made it safely to the river bank were boatman Pradeep Sahani (30) and his assistant Futal Majhi (32), Sattar Ali (50), and Inteyaz Ahmed (20) and Arman Ahmed (22).
The four persons still missing are Shiv Shankar Yadav (53), Krishna Yadav (18), Dharmen Das (56) and Thunku Kurmi (40).
Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu, who is personally monitoring the rescue operation at the incident site, said that four teams from the NDRF and two teams from the SDRF have been deployed to rescue the missing persons.
He said, "According to the boatman, their boat was hit by a strong current. The weather was very foggy and as a result, they lost direction and got caught in a spot where two to three rivers meet.
There was a heavy undercurrent. The boat is still untraced. The rescue mission for the missing will resume tomorrow at dawn."
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