Rajnath extends condolences over boat capsizes incident in Brahmaputra

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday extended his condolences over the boat capsizing incident that occurred in Brahmaputra River in Guwahati, claiming two lives and leaving several missing.

Singh took to his Twitter handle and wrote, "Anguished at the loss of precious lives due to capsizing of a boat in Brahmaputra River near Guwahati. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased."

The mishap took place at around 1:30 pm after the boat developed a technical glitch, following which it collided with a water supply project near the Aswaklanta temple ghat here. The boat was plied from Fancy Bazaar and was moving towards North Guwahati.

The Home Minister further added that Chief Minister of Assam apprised him of the details pertaining to the tragedy and the state agencies along with NDRFHQ teams are conducting the search and rescue operations.

"Spoke to the Chief Minister of Assam Shri @sarbanandsonwal who apprised me of the details pertaining to boat capsizing tragedy. The state agencies & @NDRFHQ teams are conducting the search and rescue operations," read his tweet.

A 40-member State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team has launched a rescue operation. Though 22 tickets were issued, there were several others traveling without tickets. The "overcrowded" boat was also transporting some motorcycles.

Reportedly, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has ordered a high-level probe by an additional chief secretary Jishnu Baruah into the incident.