Search operation continues to locate railway officer swept away in Arunachal river

way2barak, Nov 26 : Efforts to locate Suvendu Choudhary, Chief Principal Security Officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), who went missing after being swept away by the strong currents of the Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh, continued on the third day on Tuesday, officials said.

An NFR official said that search and rescue operations at Parashuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit district and downstream locations are being carried out jointly by the National and State Disaster Response Force, Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and local Police teams.

The official said that 12 boats have been deployed and patrol teams are carrying out searches at all possible locations, including three places where the river widens.

Senior officers of NFR, including the Divisional Railway Manager, Tinsukia are at the location, and coordinating with state and district authorities to deploy all possible means.

NFR General Manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava is in touch with the top officials of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam state governments.

According to a railway official, Choudhary, 55, after completing official works went to Parashuram Kund, a Hindu pilgrimage centre situated at Telu Shati area of Mishmi plateau, along with family and other NFR officials but suddenly slipped into deep water and was swept away on Sunday.

The official said that immediately after the incident search operations were launched but Choudhary has not been located yet.

Parshuram Kund is in the lower reaches of the Lohit River, approximately 48 km from Tezu, the headquarters of the Lohit district.

The NFR, one among the 17 railway zones in India, operates in the northeastern states, seven districts of West Bengal and five districts of north Bihar.

According to officials, as many as 18 railway infrastructure projects of 1,368 km length with a total investment of Rs 74,972 crore are going on in the eight northeastern states, including Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.