Two killed as boat with 40 on board capsizes in Brahmaputra in Guwahati
Police said nine people have been rescued while two dead bodies have been recovered so far.
Two persons drowned and at least 11 others are missing after a motorised country boat capsized in the Brahmaputra river near here after hitting a rock on Wednesday, state government officials said.
Two drivers of the boat, Halim Ali and Nooruddin Ali, have been detained, said Sanjib Saikia, ASP, Kamrup.
“Twenty passengers have been rescued...,” Kamrup deputy commissioner Kamal Kumar Baishya said. He added that the boat with 36 passengers was on its way to north Guwahati in Kamrup district from Fancy Bazar ferry ghat here when the accident happened.
Bharat Bhushan Dev Choudhury, director, Inland Water Transport Department, said, “The onboard staff made a call to the department personnel and two vessels were dispatched. But before they could get there the boat hit the pillars of under construction water supply project.”
Multiple rescue teams of the state disaster response force, national disaster response force, the Army and the Assam Police were pressed into action to look for at least 24 missing people. Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked additional chief secretary Jishnu Baruah to investigate cause of the incident.
Mriduleswar Goswami, one of the survivors, said, “The engine stopped working and the driver let it float with the current. The boat got stuck between the pillars and capsized...”
