Family of five missing after vehicle falls into Assam's Dikhow river; search operation enters day 2

Guwahati: Search operations by Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams continued Monday for five members of a family who went missing after their vehicle fell into the Dikhow river in Assam’s Sivsagar district, officials said. “The search teams are yet to locate the car or its occupants because of the strong undercurrent in Dikhow river which is on a spate and muddy water was blocking the vision of the divers under water,” a state government release said. [caption id=“attachment_1573159” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The release said on Monday, “Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has spoken to the Prime Minister’s office and the Union Home Ministry regarding the search and rescue operation of the missing family.” The chief minister has also taken up the matter with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Defence Ministry for help, according to the release. A total of 32 deep divers are engaged in the rescue operation. Divers are going as deep as 40 ft in some areas and ten boats have been pressed into service. The search teams include three teams from the NDRF, six teams from the SDRF, one each from Dibrugarh and Sivasagar, apart from one team from the Para Commando of the Indian Army. “A team of eight Indian Navy divers with equipment from Visakhapatnam will be joining shortly in the search operation,” the release said. Five members of a family are missing after their vehicle fell into a river in Sivasagar district of upper Assam Saturday evening. According to sources, the family was travelling from Sivasagar to Guwahati when their vehicle plunged into the Dikhow river after breaking a dyke at Gaurisagar Dikhowmukh. They five were identified as Haren Bora, his wife Phunu Bora, daughters Simpi Bora and Munmi Bora, and mother Ponou Bora.