The search and rescue operation for 24-year-old Dorjee Norbu, who has been missing after drowning into Nuranang waterfalls in Tawang district since August 17, has been abandoned.
According to media reports, the search operation for the youth was abandoned on Tuesday by the authorities as they failed to trace the body.
Nuranang waterfalls, also known as Jang waterfalls or Bong Bong waterfalls, is 100 metres high and lies 2 km away from Jang town on the road connecting Tawang and Bomdila of Arunachal Pradesh.
The district disaster management officer (DDMO) of Tawang, Lobsang, who had coordinated the search operation since August 17, informed the media about the decision to abandon the operation.
The DDMO informed that the decision was taken following a meeting held between the district authorities and the parents and other family members of the missing youth.
A joint team carried out the search operation along with the locals continuously for four days but without any results.
Media reports say the joint team included NDRF teams from Itanagar and Assam’s Tezpur, SSB’s RR team from Dirang, mountaineers Talik Darung, Taka Tamut and Ngargo Yirang.
A media report quoted Lobsang as saying that since early morning on Tuesday, the joint search operation team along with the locals had carried out search operation in river Tawangchu.
But the operation was stopped at 6 pm as the joint team failed to trace the body of the deceased.
Informing about the abandonment of the operation, DDMO Lobsang on Tuesday said, “It has been four days now and there is still no clue of the body. It may be due to strong turbulence of the river’s water that the body still remains untraceable.”
However, he further said that the locals and the people living in the downstream villages along Bhutan border have been asked to inform the authorities if they trace the body of the deceased.