Srinagar, The rescue operation to trace three missing people, including two children, after a boat capsized in Srinagar, entered its second day on Wednesday with Army’s elite MARCOS team searching the waters along with several other disaster response forces.
On Tuesday morning, at about 8 am a boat capsized in the river Jhelum on Srinagar outskirts, leading to the deaths of six people, including two school-going twins, Tahir Fayaz and Mudasir Fayaz, and their 40-year-old mother, Firdousa Fayaz.
A man and two minors, one of them his son, are still missing.
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Vidhi Kumar Birdi said the rescue operation continued in the night also and it was resumed in early morning again.
“We are searching for the missing, but so far nothing has been found. The search operation is still going on,” Birdi told reporters in Srinagar.
IGP Kashmir said special divers involved in the operation have their own understanding about water and water currents.
“These special divers are searching the area where they find high probabilities of the body. Generally it has been seen that the body comes to the surface after sometime due to decomposition,” he said.
The IGP said they have already alerted all police stations in Srinagar located along the banks of Jhelum and directed them to keep eye on the river if they observe anything.
Multiple teams from various agencies State Disaster Response Force and Army’s elite Marine Commandos (MARCOS) are involved in the search operation.
The Tuesday morning boat tragedy sparked a row in Kashmir, with political parties hitting out at the J&K government for delaying the construction of the Gandbal Batwara footbridge in the area.
The government said on Tuesday evening that the work on the bridge is going on and will be completed by June 30.
Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, directed the Road and Buildings Department last evening to strictly adhere to the deadline for the completion of the bridge.