Itanagar: Eight of the 19 construction workers from Assam, who went missing from remote Kurung Kumey district in Arunachal Pradesh early this month, have been rescued from a forest area nearby the Furak river between Huri and Furak during the last 24 hours, Kurung Kumey DC Nighee Bengia said on Saturday.
He informed that five of the seven labourers rescued last night were stated to be in serious condition and were evacuated to TRIHMS Naharlagun from Damin through an IAF chopper for further treatment.
He said that the last one, who was rescued this evening, is also in a very serious condition and is being evacuated by road to District Hospital, Koloriang along with two other rescued labourers.
Earlier in the day, the DC said, “The rescued workers are being given medical aid and food. Since they are physically weak they are not in a
position to give a statement. They are at BRO camp at Huri, where they were given first aid” “A team of doctors with medicines left for Damin from Koloriang this morning to give them medical treatment. Their statement will be taken once they get fully recovered,” he said.
The DC said those rescued have been identified as Abdul Ami, Majidul
Ali, Monowar Hussain, Joinair Ali, Inamul Hussain, Khairul Islam, Hamidul Hussain and Ibrahim Ali.
He said, an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter came and conducted a search operation in the area from 9.30 am to 5 pm but did not succeed in getting any clue of the missing workers “due to bad weather at Damin circle in spite of best trials by IAF pilots”.
The DC said that the remaining 11 people are still missing but “as per
the statements of 7 rescued labourers, three of them were dead – one
had fallen in the river, one died on the way while resting on a stone,
and the another also fallen in the river. Our rescue team didn’t recover or see the dead bodies. This death story was told by the seven rescued labourers at Huri”, he said.
Land rescue operations will continue till all the missing persons are rescued. At present, the SDRF team, district police personnel and local rescue team are camping at Damin under constant supervision of DC and SP, Kurung Kumey district for search & rescue operation.
It is to mention that 19 of the 30 workers, engaged in a BRO road project along the India-China border, had run away from their labour camp at Huri under Damin circle on July 5 after being allegedly denied leave for Eid. Their missing report was filed by the BRO contractor Bengia Bado at Koloriang police station on July 13, the DC had said.
