At least 1 killed, dozens missing after two boats collide in northeast India
New Delhi, Sep 8 (EFE).- At least one person was killed and dozens were missing on Wednesday after two boats carrying 120 people collided in India’s northeastern state of Assam.
“One person died in the hospital” after the two boats crashed into each other in the Brahmaputra river, Ashok Kumar Barman – the joint commissioner of police for the Jorhat district, where the accident took place – told EFE.
He added that the number of missing people had not been determined so far as the exact number of passengers onboard the two vessels was not known.
However, the director of the National Disaster Response Force, Satya Pradhan, tweeted that the boats had been carrying around 120 people.
Barman said that after the collision, which took place early in the evening, one of the boats had capsized and had been found two kilometers away from the accident spot.
Videos aired by local news broadcasters showed passengers trying to help others who had fallen into the water, even as one of the boat capsized.
So far the possible causes of the accident are not known.
“Saddened by the boat accident in Assam. All possible efforts are being made to rescue the passengers. I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted after the accident.
The last major boat accident in India took place in May, when at least 145 people died onboard two barges which were stationed close to the western coast during the passage of the cyclone Tauktae. EFE
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