Nimati Ghat Boat Accident: 42 People Rescued, 1 Dead, Several Still Missing; 3 Officials Suspended

GUWAHATI: Many people are feared missing after two boats with about a hundred passengers sunk after colliding with each other in the river Brahmaputra in Jorhat, Assam.

Currently, rescue operations continue at Nimatighat where a major boat accident occurred today.

As per the state's report, 42 people have been rescued and around 70 are still missing, says officials.

Meanwhile, Assam State Transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary has suspended three officials following the tragic ferry accident at NimatiGhat, Jorhat.

Reportedly, Bikramaditya Choudhury, i/c Executive Engineer, IWT, Dibrugarh Division, Mukut Gogoi, i/c Assistant Executive Engineer, IWT, Jorhat Sub-Division and Ratul Tamuli, Junior Engineer, IWT, Jorhat Sub-Division have been placed under suspension on Wednesday.

One person who was rescued has been reported to have died on way to the hospital. The deceased has been identified as Paramita Das, a resident of Kahilipara Guwahati. She was working as a lecturer at a college in Majuli.

Two teams of SDRF and two NDRF teams along with local people are searching for missing people. Two passenger boats collided at river Brahmaputra resulting in one boat turning turtle with many passengers stuck inside. Those who could manage jumped off the boat as the boat slowly turned upside down. Video footage from the site showed people desperately trying to get off the slowly turning boat and crying for help.

There is no correct figure as to how many people were on board the boat. Though eye-witnesses claim that there were over 100 people the police believe that the figure is around 75. According to a senior police official around 35 people might be missing and that, too, is based on eyewitnesses and other sources. There is no register or ticket system to know the exact number that shows the negligence of the Inland Water Transport Department.

The accident happened at around 4:15 PM as a departing boat(Ma Kamala) was trying to give space to an arriving boat. Due to some miscommunication among the drivers, the boats collided and the departing boat turned upside down.