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Assam boat capsize: Body of officer recovered after 3 days
The bodies of the other 27 passengers were recovered within 24 hours after the boat over turned in the Brahmaputra River on Sunday
The body of a circle officer in Assam’s Dhubri district, who went missing in a boat capsize incident on Thursday, has been recovered by a team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) from the Brahmaputra River on Sunday, said police.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday afternoon wrote on Twitter, “After continued efforts by our rescue teams, the body of Circle Officer Sanju Das, who went missing in the recent Dhubri boat mishap, was recovered about 1000 meters downstream from the accident spot.”
The superintendent of police (SP) of Dhubri, Gaurav Abhijit Dilip said that a mechanised country boat carrying 28 passengers including the circle officer overturned after hitting a post of a bridge at Bhashanir on September 29.
“Except for the circle officer, the other 27 passengers were recovered within 24 hours. Today at around 10.45 am, the SDRF team found the dead body 1 kilometre away from the area where the boat over turned on September 29,” he said.
The SP said that the rescued passengers informed that the boat lost control before hitting a pillar. Following that, SDRF team launched a search operation.
He said that the dead body will be airlifted to Cachar district from Dhubri after completing the formalities. However, deputy commissioner of Cachar district, Rohan Kumar Jha said that they are considering bringing the body by road transport.
Sanju Das’s younger brother Subir Das and some other family members have reached Dhubri to receive the body, which has been sent to a local hospital for the postmortem process, according to police.
People familiar with the matter said circle officer Sanju Das was returning from an inspection. An engineer employed at L&T Company prevented Sanju Das and his team from crossing the bridge due to which he had to take the boat, they said.
“He didn’t want to cross the river in boat but was asked to wait for long if he wants to cross the bridge. Later, he decided to take the boat which became a cause of his death,” an official said without disclosing his identity.
Dhubri Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter. The MP and perfume baron announced an ex-gratia of ₹10 lakh to the next of kin of Das.
