GUWAHATI: Authorities of Assam’s Dhubri district have sought the help of Bangladesh to look for Dhubri circle officer Sanju Das, who has been missing since Thursday’s boat capsize, fearing that his body might have been carried away by the Brahmaputra to the neighbouring country.
The Brahmaputra, which originates in Tibet, flows into Kurigram district of Bangladesh from Assam’s Dhubri.
Dhubri deputy commissioner Anbamuthan MP said on Friday he has sent a written request to the deputy commissioner of Kurigram district of Bangladesh, Rezaul Karim, to conduct an operation to trace Das’s body.
“There is only one casualty, circle officer Sanju Das, whose body is yet to be traced. The remaining 27 have been rescued with minimum injuries. Das’s body might have been washed away to Bangladesh. I have written to the Kurigram DC and he assured cooperation,” Anbamuthan told TOI.
Indo-Bangla riverine border 8km from boat capsize site
The Indo-Bangladesh riverine border is located just 8km from Bhasanir, the site of Thursday's incident.
About 28 people were on board the goods carrying mechanized country boat from Dhubri when it capsized on Thursday after hitting a pillar of the under construction Dhubri-Phulbari bridge over the Brahmaputra. Most of the passengers swam safely to the bank at Bhasanir while others were rescued by locals, NDRF and SDRF rescue teams, except the circle officer.
A total of 17 deep divers were engaged on the second day of the search and rescue operation. Fifteen rescue boats and drones were used in the operations.
The circle officer, along with an Assam State Disaster Management Authority field officer, were sent for an inspection of an erosion-hit area. They boarded a goods boat to cross the river channel to a riverine area.
On an FIR lodged by the IWT, police on Friday arrested two engineers - Rajesh Kumar Yadav and Harish Tiwari - of the L& T Construction which is constructing the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge.