Assam boat tragedy: Search continues as police fears 250 dead

DHUBRI/GUWAHATI: Bodies of three children were fished out of the Brahmaputra River, taking the toll in the ferry disaster to 106, even as search operations were today on to trace over 100 missing people.

The search, being conducted by the National Disaster Relief Force, the BSF and the Army, produced no result today and the police feared the death toll could be around 250.

Bodies of three children were fished out of the Brahmaputra last night.

Dhubri deputy commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita, SP Pradip Chandra Saloi and top officials of the NDRF, the BSF and the Army are on the spot for supervision.

Yesterday, Kalita had hinted that the death toll in Monday's boat tragedy would rise as more than 100 were missing.

The police said the search operation would continue through the day and did not rule out the possibility of many bodies being washed downstream to the river's south bank in Bangladesh.

AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, along with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, is scheduled to visit Dhubri later in the day to take stock of the situation.

The double-decker ferry carrying around 300 people capsized in the Brahmaputra River on Monday