GOALPARA, July 12: The bodies of two missing victims of a boat capsize in Assam’s Goalpara district were found on Friday, taking the toll to five, police said.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while visiting the accident site and meeting the bereaved family, announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the next of kin of each victim.
A small boat carrying about 20 people had sunk into flood waters at Simlitola in the Rongjuli police station area on Thursday, leading to the death of five persons. Three bodies were recovered the same day, while the two others were found on Friday.
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The deceased have been identified as Gouranga Malakar, Uday Sarkar, Jitu Karmakar, Prasenjit Saha and Sujan Malakar — all of them belonged to the same family.
Sarma said the people were returning after cremating one Anjana Malakar when the accident happened.
“Five people have died in the accident and all were relatives of Anjana Malakar. The entire village is mourning the deaths. We also visited the bereaved family to pay our condolences,” he said.
The CM said ex gratia will be paid by the government.
“We have learnt that there are ailing members in the bereaved family and they have also lost their source of income. We will see if we can further help them in the future,” he added.
On the allegations of negligence, he said, “The cremation ground is surrounded by water. We will see the details later. Now, is not the time.” (PTI)
