Dikhowmukh, Sivasagar (Assam): The massive joint operation led by the Navy has so far failed to retrieve the bodies of five persons of a family, who are feared to have drowned after the car they were travelling in plunged into the Dikhow river in Sivasagar district of Assam on Saturday evening.
On Tuesday morning, a 10-member team of specialised divers from the Eastern Naval Command were pressed into action with the help of highly-sophisticated sonar technology. However, due to the fast undercurrent and poor underwater visibility in the Dikhow river, as a result of the recent rains, the rescue operation has been adversely affected. At some points, rescuers even had had to dive to about a depth of 40 feet into the river, but in vain.
As per initial reports, the mapping of some specified locations in the river was conducted with the help of side scan sonar technology. Altogether, 32 deep-sea divers are engaged in the rescue operation. Three teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), six teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), one each from Dibrugarh and Sivasagar and two teams each from Jorhat and Golaghat are helping the Naval team, apart from one team from the para commando unit of the Army.
“We are very much hopeful of the specialised Navy divers from Visakhapatnam. They are trying their best. The CM of Assam has also taken special interest in this regard,” Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, additional director general, State Disaster Management Authority, said.
Sonar (Sound Navigation and Ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, communicate with or detect objects on or under the surface of the water, such as other vessels.
Five members of a family were feared drowned on Saturday evening after the Swift Dzire car they were travelling in fell into the Dikhow River near Dicial village in Dikhowmukh, around km 360 from Guwahati.
The members of the ill-fated family have been identified as Haren Bora (52), his wife Phunu (45), his mother Punou (85) and the couple’s two daughters Simpi (21) and Munmi (18). The family had gone to visit their ancestral house at Mitong Nakatani village in Dikhowmukh on that fateful day.
