NEW DELHI: A boat carrying around 250 people capsized in the north eastern state of Assam leaving 35 people dead and many others missing. The boat, a country made double-decker steam powered vessel was ferrying people across the treacherous Brahmaputra river which flows through Assam from the Himalayas. However, 25 passengers successfully swam to safety. “The steamer was traveling with about 250 people on board when it capsized mid-stream in the Brahmaputra following a storm,” a police official said. Officials estimate that there could be at least another 100 people who have perished in the mishap. Search operations for the missing persons are on. The fate of the other 200 passengers is not yet known. The Brahmaputra river, one of India's two great rivers, including the Ganges, which is fed by the melting glaciers of the Himalayas now that summer is here, is usually flow in a ferocious torrent at this time of the year. The situation was aggravated by the inclement weather, frequent rainfalls and cloud bursts that the lower reaches of the Himalayas experience. “I could see people being swept away as the river current was very strong,” Rahul Karmakaran an eyewitness said. Among those feared drowned are women and children, as well as poor farmers for whom the rickety ferry service is the only means of crossing the river. Over-crowding of boats is not an uncommon thing in this part of the world. Several such tragedies take the lives of hapless passengers especially in the plains and riverine regions of the country.
