Pulwama, May 09: Authorities in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district have intensified search operation for tracing two missing persons who drowned into river Jhelum at Hatiwara village of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday evening.
A survivor of the boat capsize incident at Hatiwara, Kuldeep Kumar, resident of Lakhimapur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, said that they were returning from Lelhara village after finishing their day’s work in agriculture fields there.
He said that eight of them sat in a boat to cross the river Jhelum to reach their temporary accommodation at Ladhoo village of Pampore tehsil.
“When the boat reached near the midpoint of the river it started drowning and we jumped into the water,” he said, adding that every one of them attempted to swim to the shore.
He added that they were rescued but their two companions drowned.
They identified the drowned persons as Ravi Kumar, 23, and Himanshu, 20, both from Lakhimapur Kheri.
Soon after the incident, authorities launched a rescue operation pressing inflatable rescue boats into service.
Officials said that the operation continued late evening under supervision of DC Pulwama and SSP Awantipora.
The officials said that the search operation was relaunched on Thursday at 6:00 am.
They added that special divers were also put into action to find the missing persons.
Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, Dr Basharat Qayoom, informed Rising Kashmir that teams including NDRF, SDRF, civil volunteers, police and paramilitary forces and marcos have been put into action.
He added that the search is still underway and there are no traces of the missing persons. He said that the labourers had taken a shortcut route bypassing Kakapora bridge to reach the other shore of the river.
