GUWAHATI: The Eastern Naval Command has rushed a ten-member diving team from Visakhapatnam by an Indian Air Force’s AN32 aircraft to Assam on Monday to search for a car that went missing in a river along with all five members of a Guwahati family.
Defence sources told TNIE the arrangement was made based on the requisition by Assam’s Sivasagar district authorities. The Indian Navy divers will augment the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the civil authorities in the search and rescue operations.
The ill-fated car had plunged into Dikhow river in Sivasagar district in the evening of September 1 with Guwahati-based businessman Haren Bora, his wife Phunu Bora, mother Panou Bora and daughters Chimpi Bora and Munmi Bora on board.
Earlier, the district authorities had engaged divers from the Army’s Special Forces besides NDRF and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel in the operations but there is no trace of either the vehicle or its occupants.
“The river is 70-80 metre wide with strong currents, making the search a slow and deliberate process. Due to recent rains, the water has become muddy which is also delaying the search. Personnel of NDRF and local villagers are also assisting the Army in the search operations,” the defence sources added.
On that fateful day, the family was returning to Guwahati after visiting a relative in Sivasagar.