Three people were killed after a boat carrying approximately 50 passengers capsized in the Brahmaputra river in North Guwahati near the Aswaklanta Temple on Wednesday, 5 September, reports said.
Twenty-three people have been rescued so far. According to reports, there were several women and children among the passengers onboard.
The bodies of the three deceased have been recovered. The rescue team has identified one of them as Ankita Baruah, a student of Cotton College and the other as Dimpi Das, also a student, who passed away after being taken to the hospital.
The other deceased has been identified as Kamal Das.
The Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, condoled the accident on Twitter. He has also ordered a probe into the boat tragedy. Principal Secretary Jishnu Barua will be leading the investigation, reported News18 Assam and NE.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority has set up two helplines for any information regarding the accident.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted his condolences to the families of the casualties.
Rescue operations by the SDRF and NDRF are underway. According to The Times of India, a 25-member team of State Disaster Management Authority has been called in.
The boat was carrying passengers from MG Road in Guwahati to North Guwahati, reported News18 Assam and NE. It hit Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA)- constructed water projects in the river, developed a technical glitch and capsized, reported The Indian Express.
(This is a developing story. More details are awaited.)
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