In a bizarre incident, 13 persons, including two Members of Parliament, one MLA and district magistrate and police superintendent of Birbhum fell into the river when their rubber speed boat overturned while inspecting a marooned area in Labhpur of Birbhum today.
They are rescued later, while one person is still missing till the time of reporting.
About 15 villages have been inundated due to overflowing of Kuye river in Labhpur and all officials had boarded the rubber speed boat without wearing life saving jackets.
District magistrate of Birbhum, Bidhan Roy, MLA of Labhpur, Abhijit Sinha, Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, Bolpur MP Asit Mal, police superintendent Raj Narayan Mukherjee and eight others boarded the rubber speed boat today evening when suddenly the boat overturned and capsized.
Immediately local police and other rescue workers swung into action and rescued 12 persons from the Kuye river.
“In the middle of the river, the boat overturned after hitting a floating tree trunk. All of us fell into the river. Seeing us, the police on the banks of the rivers and local villagers jumped into the river and rescued us,” said Abhijit Sinha, MLA of Labhpur.
The DM Bidhan Roy said that about six to seven villages have been completely marooned and mud houses have flattened in the area after heavy rainfall in the past five days. The officials were rescued.
The State Disaster Management Force has been sent to Labhpur block to rescue the marooned villagers.