Brahmaputra mishap: Third body recovered in Kharghuli, search on for two others

Guwahati, Dec 17: The third body from the Brahmaputra river drowning incident near Kharghuli was recovered on Wednesday, as search operations continued for the remaining two victims, officials said.

The deceased has been identified as Sagar Gautam. A member of the search operations team said the body was spotted floating in the river and recovered after information was received from the local police station.

Members of Bhakti Kutir, with whom the victims were associated, were informed soon after.

“With Gautam’s recovery, two persons, Abhijit Choudhury and Upesh Kumar, are still missing,” said a member of Bhakti Kutir.

The tragedy dates back to December 10, when a group of nine people went to the Brahmaputra riverbank at Kharguli to take a ritual bath. Five members of the group entered the river and went missing.

Earlier, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) recovered the body of Pratap Rai on December 15, while another missing person, Raunak, was traced on December 13. Four members of the group survived the incident.

A large-scale search operation has been underway since the incident, with teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and SDRF combing the stretch of the Brahmaputra near Kharghuli.

NDRF officials had earlier said the first alert was received around 12.50 pm on December 10, following which rescue teams reached the spot within 15 minutes. However, strong river currents hampered immediate rescue efforts.

One of the survivors, Pranav Nayar from Vrindavan, had earlier told the press that the group had split up at the riverbank.

“There were nine of us. Five went to a different site and didn’t return. Four of us who knew how to swim survived,” he said.

Another survivor described how a sudden change in water depth led to the mishap. He said the group initially found the water shallow, but the depth increased abruptly as they moved forward.

Despite some of them being able to swim, the strong current dragged several members under the water.

Officials cautioned that the Brahmaputra can appear calm on the surface but often has powerful undercurrents capable of sweeping people downstream.

At the time of filing this report, search operations are continuing to locate the remaining two missing persons.