4 Days After Assam Boat Accident, Officials Recover Body of Missing Person
The death count in the boat accident has now risen to two.
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Forest Department officials on Saturday, 11 September, recovered the body of one of the two missing persons from the boat accident in Assam's Jorhat district on Wednesday, about 100 km downstream of the Brahmaputra river from the accident site, PTI reported.
Two passenger boats with around 120 passengers had collided at Nimati Ghat in Assam's Jorhat on Wednesday. One of the boats had capsized after the collision.
"Documents were recovered on the body, from which it was identified to be of Indreswar Bora of Lakhimpur district," Jorhat deputy commissioner Ashok Barman was quoted as saying by PTI.
The death count in the boat accident has now risen to two.
Search Operations Going On for Other Missing Victim
Earlier, Porimita Das, a 23-year-old woman from Guwahati, had been reported dead. She was employed as faculty in a college in Majuli. She had been rescued from the river but was declared brought dead by doctors at Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, SP Jorhat Ankur Jain had said.
Barman said search operations are still going on for the other missing victim, a doctor from Jorhat, near the accident site and in surrounding and downstream areas.
According to PTI, Bora's body was brought to Biswanath Chariali from where it will be taken for a post-mortem before it is finally handed over to the family members.
Multiple agencies, including NDRF, SDRF, district administrations and police personnel, are conducting the search operations.
Assam State Disaster Management Authority had rescued 87 people until Thursday, ANI reported.
The Collision
A government passenger ferry of the Inland Water Transport department was coming from the river island of Majuli to Nimati Ghat, while the other boat was going in the opposite direction.
One of the ferries, 'Ma Kamala', had 120 people on board, and the passengers were moving from Nimatighat to Kamalabari.
Videos from the accident showed the boat capsizing, while the passengers' luggage and 35 vehicles on the boat were lost in the river.
In the wake of the accident, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had announced that single-engine private boats are henceforth banned from operating to Majuli, as per a PTI report. The government will provide subsidies for the purchase of marine engines, he had said.
A high-level probe had also been called into the accident to ascertain the cause behind the mishap, PTI reported, citing the chief minister. The police was also directed to file a criminal case in relation to the incident.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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