Assam govt releases list of 35 dead, 42 missing of boat mishap

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The Assam government on Friday put the official toll in Monday's ferry capsize in Brahmaputra river here at 35 and said 42 passengers were reported missing.

Dhubri Deputy Commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita formally released the list of dead and missing people in the tragedy at Medartary ghat. Among the dead are 11 children and 12 women. In the list of those registered missing there are 14 children and 12 women.

"Two more bodies were fished out today (Friday), one each by locals and the BSF. Search operations are on," Kalita told reporters after releasing the list. Official sources had put the number of dead on the day of the mishap at 103.

Nine bodies were fished out by divers till now. The unofficial figure of those missing is 250, most of whom are feared to have been washed downstream by the turbulent waters of Brahmaputra to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, an FIR has been lodged at Fakirganj police station against the ferry's owner Syed Ali Bepari. The ferry was registered in 1996 and the owner did not renew the permit after the expiry of its registration.

The ferry was carrying around 380 passengers and was hit by a storm after which it capsized. On Thursday, a flag meeting was held at Sonarhat on the Indo-Bangla border between the BSF and the Border Guards Bangladesh in which senior district and police officers from Dhubri and Kurigram district of Bangladesh participated.

The Indian officials sought the help and cooperation from Bangladesh in retrieving bodies that may have been washed downstream.