A tragedy was averted in Lakhimpur district on Sunday evening with the rescue of all the passengers of a ferry in river Subansiri following technical snag in its engine.
The incident occurred at Ghagar Inland Water Transport ghat at 6 pm when a ferry, carrying 44 passengers from Ghagar to Ghunasuti, was swept away by the current of river Subansiri as its engine developed a snag midway.
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The ferry was carried away to several metres causing panic on either side of the river.
A torrential rain and darkness prevented rescue operations for several hours as personnel from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were rushed to the IWT ghat.
Finally, all the passengers of the stranded ferry were rescued safely after several hours late in the evening.
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The incident once again has exposed the sorry state of affairs of the boats that the ferry passengers board at IWT ghats in Lakhimpur.
It has been alleged that most of the boats do not have proper maintenance and safety measures for the passengers while their operators run them indiscriminately due to lack of proper monitoring system of the departments concerned.