Guwahati: A woman died and several other people disappeared after their private motorized rustic boat traveled from Majuli Island to Nimatighat in Jorhat District Assam sank in Brahmaputra after being hit by a larger ferry coming from the opposite direction on Wednesday.
The incident occurred around 16:00.
“Ma Kamala”, a sunken boat, traveled from Nimatighat in Jorhat to Majuli and other ferries, “Tripkai”, came from Majuli and headed for Nimatighat.
The boat carried out by the government and the private sector is the lifeline for the island population.
The boat managed personally did not issue a ticket and therefore they maintain the number of traveling passengers.
Authorities say according to various sources, at least 70 people are on board and leave, the number of people missing can be around 27.
Women who have died, Parimita Das, who came from Guwahati, recently joined as a teacher of a school in Majuli.
Assam CM Himanta Buswa Sarma said 43 people had been saved so far.
“One of them, a woman, died after she was taken to Jorhat Medical College and the hospital.” At least seven among the saved passengers are children, the youngest becomes a three-month-old baby.
PM Narendra Modi Tweeted, “Sadly with a boat accident at Assam.
All efforts that might be done to save the passengers.
I pray for everyone’s safety and welfare.” Rescuers from NDRF and SDRF and local youth continue with search and rescue operations when submitting this report.
Divers have found a sunbathing boat around 200 meters downstream a collision site.
Sarma said, “So far, the missing report of four people has been received through our pulse-free numbers, but we need several hours to find out the number of missing persemi.” Sarma added that he would be in Nimatighat on Thursday.
Sarma said the ship had found on the river bed in a reverse position but because of the strong river currents, divers could not search for ships to find anyone trapped.
“We will now cut the boat to carry out a search operation under a reverse ship,” he said.
Dozens of rural boats carry hundreds of people to and from the island to the land of Jorhat every day in the absence of a bridge.
The bridge foundation stone was placed by Minister of Union Nitin Gadkari in 2016 before the polls of the Assembly and the inauguration of construction work for the 2.8-km 2-km bridge was carried out by PM Narendra Modi in February 2021.