GUWAHATI, May 26: The bodies of a woman and a minor girl, who went missing after the boat, which they were being ferried on Wednesday evening, capsized in Sonbeel in Karimganj district, were recovered during a search operation by State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police personnel on Thursday morning.
According to official sources, the bodies recovered from the wetland have been identified as Ujjala Das (50), of Kalyanpur village, and Hasi Das (10) of Santipur village.
The boat, with five persons, including the boat owner, was headed towards Fakua from Kalyanpur, before the mishap occurred at a location under Ram Krishna Nagar police station around 4.30pm on Wednesday.
Three other persons, who were on the boat, were rescued.
Even as a probe will examine the circumstances leading to the mishap, District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) sources informed that the boat capsized owing to a storm which swept across parts of the southern Assam district on Wednesday.
The largest wetland in Assam, Sonbeel, is a major tourist attraction. However, in the wake of the surge in COVID-19 cases in the state, tourism activities have been kept on hold.
Locals have questioned authorities as to why a country boat was allowed to operate in the swelling water body, especially when the Met office had sounded a heavy rain/high-velocity wind alarm in the wake of the cyclonic storm over Bay of Bengal.
