Two students feared drowned in Guwahati

GUWAHATI - Two school students were feared drowned in the Brahmaputra river here Wednesday and rescue teams were pressed into service to locate their bodies, police said.

According to a police spokesperson, five college students - four boys and a girl - from different institutions skipped classes and went to the Umananda island on the outskirts of Guwahati Wednesday morning.

“The students were sitting on the bank of the river when suddenly the girl fell down and one of the boys jumped to rescue her and both of them went missing after that,” a police officer said.

The two were identified as Niraj Thapa of B. Barooah College and Drubina Deka of Kendriya Vidyalaya Borjhar. Both are class 11 students.

“The other three male students were their common friends and all of them were in their school uniforms, probably skipping classes,” the officer said.

Two rescue teams with mechanized boats are looking for the missing students but with the river current very strong, their chances of survival seemed remote.

“We are trying our best but then chances of survival in the Brahmaputra are very slim,” he added.

Family members of the students were perplexed on hearing that their children bunked classes to go to the island on a country boat for an outing.