GOALPARA, July 11: At least three persons were killed and two others went missing after a boat sank in the floodwaters in Assam’s Goalpara district on Thursday evening.
According to a senior police officer, the incident took place at Simlitola in Rongjuli police station area when the boat with around 20 people on board was returning after the cremation of a person in a nearby isolated location.
“There were approximately 20 people on the small boat. It sank due to being overloaded while navigating through flooded areas after the evening cremation,” the officer said.
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While most of the passengers managed to swim to nearby highlands, five people were reported missing.
“SDRF personnel were called in, and they recovered the bodies of three persons. According to local villagers, two others remain missing, and efforts are ongoing to locate them,” the officer added.
The deceased have been identified as Jit Karmakar (27), Prasenjit Saha (28), and Sujan Malakar (27).
Meanwhile, the flood situation in the state remained grim on Thursday even though flood waters started receding in many parts of the state.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati said light to moderate rainfall is likely to occur at some places over Assam and its neighbouring areas.
“Moderate rain is very likely to occur at most places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, and at many places over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura,” it said.
A report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that five more people lost their lives and over 14 lakh people are reeling under the deluge across 25 districts.
The toll in this year’s flood, landslide, storm and lightning has now mounted to 100.
Dhubri is the worst hit with over 2.37 lakh people suffering, followed by Cachar (1.82 lakh) and Golaghat (1.12 lakh), the report said.
“Flood water is receding in many parts of the state. If the rain stops, the condition will continue to improve,” a senior official of ASDMA said.
The administration has been operating 365 relief camps and relief distribution centres in 20 districts, taking care of 1,57,447 displaced people at present.
The authorities have distributed 2,825.36 quintals of rice, 517.22 quintals of dal, 151.97 quintals of salt and 14,015.39 litres of mustard oil among the flood victims of the state during the last 24 hours.
At present, 2,580 villages are under water and 39,898.92 hectares of crop area has been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said.
Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Cachar, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Charaideo, Goalpara, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup and Majuli.
The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Nimatighat, Tezpur, Guwahati and Dhubri, the report said.
Its tributaries Burhidihing at Chenimari and Disang at Nanglamuraghat are also flowing above the danger level.
The Barak river’s tributary Kushiyara is flowing above the danger mark at Karimganj town, the ASDMA said.
On account of widespread flooding, over 11,28,398 domestic animals and poultry are affected across Assam, it added. (PTI)
