Dhankuta. Armed police divers have been mobilized to search for three people who went missing in the boat accident on the Saptakoshi river on Sunday.
Seven-year-old son Shivak Magar of Nita Magar of Kankai Municipality-4 of Jhapa, 21-year-old Pramila Magar of Barahkshetra Municipality-1 of Sunsari and 22-year-old Manu Rai of the same place are missing in the accident. A team of Nepal Police along with armed police divers has been mobilized to search for them.
Deputy Superintendent of Armed Police Rajesh Phuyal informed that a team of divers operating from the Chatra base of the armed police at Chatra in Sunsari and the armed police unit at Pakli intensified the search around the accident site.
According to Phuyal, Gulmapati Armed Police Deputy Superintendent of Armed Police Force Nepal No. 6 Headquarters in Dhankuta, a team of 11 people, including seven divers, under the command of the Armed Police Inspector, is engaged in search and rescue. The team is searching for the missing persons in the river and on the banks around the accident site.
According to the Superintendent of Police of Dhankuta, Narayan Ranjitkar, the team of Nepal Police in coordination with the armed police and the team of divers has also started the search and rescue work. Police teams in Chatra and Triveni areas have been mobilized jointly. SP Ranjitkar informed that the police team was searching the river and banks using water boats. We are searching from Kopche to Chatra. There, a team of divers and other police teams will carry out the search and rescue, he said.
SP Ranjitkar of District Police Office Dhankuta and Gulmapati Phuyal of Armed Police Chintang Gulm reached the spot and returned to the headquarters on Sunday night. However, the team of Nepal Police and Armed Police stationed there has intensified the search for the missing since Monday morning.
At around 2 o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, the boat of OBM Company, carrying passengers from Hatuwagadhi Rural Municipality-9 Kopche in Sunsari to Barahkshetra in Chatra, met with an accident in Saptakoshi River in Sangurigarhi Rural Municipality-10 Triveni in Dhankuta. According to the police, the accident occurred after the brakes of the boat failed.
The police confirmed on Sunday that three people died in the accident, namely Leela Rai of Barahkshetra Municipality-1 of Sunsari, an unidentified seven-year-old girl, and another man, approximately 50 years old.
According to the police, it is estimated that there were 15 people including the driver in the boat at the time of the accident. After the accident, the team of Barah Kshetra Police Station rescued 12 people and sent them to Chatra Hospital for treatment. Three of the rescued people died.
31-year-old Mohan Sunar of Hatuwagadhi rural municipality-4 of Bhojpur, who was injured in the accident, is being treated. The police said that his condition is normal.
The driver of the boat, Suman Magar, 24, of Barahkshetra Municipality-1, Sunsari, is under police custody. According to the police, nine other people including the driver Magar are safe.