The Indian Navy will be pressed into service as rescuers desperately try to locate the vehicle that had fallen off the road and into the raging Teesta river, and the two tourists and the driver missing in the incident.
An SUV carrying three tourists from Rajasthan and a Siliguri-based driver plunged into the river at Sevoke, around 25 km away from Siliguri, on National Highway-10 on 10 July.
Master chief petty officer JF Kajala and chief petty officer C Parameshwar of the Indian Navy today reached Sevoke from the port city of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
The body of one of the tourists, identified as Aman Garg, was found in the Teesta Barrage canal at Gazoldoba in Jalpaiguri district on 12 July. It is believed that he was swept downstream by the strong current in the Teesta.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and local rafters are carrying out the search operation to trace the missing persons and the car. The rear portion of the Innova car was, however, recovered earlier.
State tourism minister Gautam Deb, who visited the accident site at Sevoke today, said the Indian Navy will be engaged in the search operations from tomorrow.
“The NDRF is continuing the search operation. Two Indian naval officers will assess the situation and it is expected they will spring into action from tomorrow,” Mr Deb said. The NDRF personnel are facing problems in the search operation because of the strong current in the swollen river and siltation on the remains of the vehicle in the river. Around 40 personnel of the 2nd battalion, NDRF, Regional Response Centre (RRC), Siliguri, are conducting the search operation with four boats and six deep divers. The state administration has provided two cranes.
NDRF officials said the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) authorities had held the water at the optimum level to aid the search, but they were not in a position to hold the water further because of power generation issues.
“We are conducting the search operation in the river to trace the missing tourists and the driver and recover the vehicle. We had traced the vehicle on the third day of the operation. The strong current in the river, its increased water level, deposition of sand/silt on the vehicle have made the work difficult,” said the deputy commandant of the 2nd battalion of the NDRF, RRC, Siliguri, Kumar Ravi. Sources said the naval officers already assessed the situation today.
State tourism minister Gautam Deb today faced the ire from relatives of a driver, who has gone missing after the SUV which he was driving fell into the swollen Teesta river along with three Rajasthan tourists on 10 July at Sevoke. Local taxi drivers joined the demonstration as Mr Deb visited the site to review the search operations today.
The relatives and the drivers said they were not satisfied with the way the operations were being carried out and the delay in engaging either the Army or the Navy.
It may be recalled that four persons, including three tourists from Jaipur in Rajasthan, Aman Garg, 26 Gaurav Sharma, 24 Gopal Narvani and driver from Siliguri Rakesh Rai, 34, went missing after their SUV plunged into the swollen Teesta near Coronation Bridge at Sevoke, around 25 km from Siliguri, last Wednesday. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and local rafting team were pressed into service to trace the missing persons. However, on Friday Garg’s body was recovered from Gazaldoba in Jalpaiguri, around 60 km away from Sevoke.
“There has been a dilly-dallying attitude of the administration in carrying out the search operations,” said Roshan Rai, the brother of Rakesh Rai.
The minister, meanwhile, tried to pacify them and said that the NDRF was searching the river, and that the Navy would also join the search operation.
Before visiting Sevoke, Mr Deb held a meeting with the relatives of the missing tourists in Siliguri and told them that the state government was taking all possible steps to locate them. The minister visited the accident site, along with the Kurseong block development officer, deputy director of tourism, North Bengal, Samrat Chakrabarty, and some private tour operators, and talked with the NDRF personnel. Mr Deb said that the search operation in the strong current in the river and adverse weather conditions involved risks.
“I am not a competent person to comment on this, but the state government is doing its best,” he said.
Meanwhile, two unidentified decomposed bodies were recovered at Gazaldoba, downstream of the Teest river, in Jalpaiguri district today.
Before heading for Sevoke, the minister said that he got the information late, as he was taking stock of the flood-like situation in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts.
“The Navy will be pressed into service, as two navy officials will assess the situation today and start working from tomorrow. The chief minister has also expressed concerns over the accident and she would like to ensure that the rescue operations go well,” said Mr Deb.
Robin Rai, the elder brother of the missing driver said that today is the seventh day and there was no clue. “Today, we submitted a memorandum to the minister to speed up the rescue process. The car had been spotted by the local rafting team and they had marked the spot with a rope but the NDRF team cut off the rope out of ego. Today, after six-days they are saying they cannot continue with the rescue process and start giving excuses. We demand the bodies be recovered soon,” said Rai.
Rohit Sharma, the brother of the missing Gaurav Sharma, said, “We are very helpless, so we had served a memorandum to the tourism minister. The minister even regrated that he could not help us till now. Our only demand is to trace the missing persons so that we can take their bodies back home. The minister has assured us and now we are feeling a little better as we have nothing to do, but have faith.”