At a time when sensation continues to prevail following a boat capsized in river Brahmaputra at Ashwaklanta Ghat in North Guwahati on Wednesday, another mechanized boat met with a mishap on Monday at Kalgachia in Barpeta.
According to reports, a mechanised boat, where there were around 50 passengers on board, met with a mishap in river Beki at Karakula area of Kalgachia under Barpeta district on Monday.
As per information, the mishap took place when the mechanised boat, locally known as ‘bhutbhuti’ hit a post of a bridge following technical snag in its engine.
Till filing of this report, information of only 11 passengers, who were on board, has been received. It has been suspected that dozens of passengers have gone missing though the exact figure is yet to be known.
The boat was coming towards the bank of river Beki when the incident took place.
It may be mentioned that a mechanized country boat carrying 40 passengers capsized near the Aswaklanta Temple in the middle of the Brahmaputa in Guwahati on Wednesday.
The mishap took place around 1.30 pm when the mechanised boat developed a technical snag and subsequently collided with a pillar of GMDA’s JICA funded water supply project in the Brahmaputra.
The boat was plying towards Majbat, Madhayamkhanda in North Guwahati from Fancy Bazar ghat in the city.
Bodies of a youth and a girl were recovered while 15 passengers rescued alive even as the rescue operations by State Disaster Response Force teams (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army and local fisherman are still on to trace the missing passengers, police sources said.
Sources said there is no trace of at least 17 passengers who were on board in the vessel. The wreckage of the boat, however, has been reportedly recovered in the middle of Brahmaputra in Sualkuchi.
