All but two of the 90 passengers of a ferry that sank after a mid-river collision with a larger ferry on the Brahmaputra on Wednesday have been rescued, the police said on Thursday.
A woman identified as a 28-year-old teacher had died on the way to the hospital after the collision at 4.15 p.m. off Neamatighat in eastern Assam’s Jorhat district.
Officials said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have engaged 31 rescue boats and 208 personnel, including 39 deep divers, to locate the missing persons.
“Altogether, 87 people have either been rescued or traced alive,” Jorhat’s Superintendent of Police Ankur Jain said.
Following the accident, the Inland Water Transport Department suspended three officials. Ferries operate under this department but are known not to follow safety regulations or issue tickets to passengers for maintaining records. – The Hindu
