Navy divers to search for family drowned in Assam river

Guwahati : A 10-member diving team from Eastern Naval Command has been roped in to search for five members of a family who met with an accident when their car fell into the Dikhow river in Assam's Sivasagar district on Saturday night, officials said on Monday.

The accident took place in Dechial village. The victims have been identified as Haren Bora and four of his family members.

Although the State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) launched a search operation the same night, nothing has been recovered so far.

"The 10-member team of Indian Navy divers along with associated diving equipment have been airlifted from Visakhapatnam by IAF AN32 aircraft for search operation this morning. The team is expected to arrive in Sivasagar district around 5.30 p.m. today (Monday)," said a spokesperson of the Indian Army.

The spokesman added: "The search could not locate the car due to difficult conditions posed to divers. Later, the Army divers were requisitioned by state administration. A team of 14 divers of Army Special Forces unit under the Spear Corps based at Dimapur commenced the search early morning on Monday.

"The river is 70-80 metre wide with strong currents. Due to the rains, the water has become muddy which is also delaying the search."