GUWAHATI, JULY 20: The Kurung Kumey district administration has now decided to deploy choppers to trace the whereabouts of the 19 construction workers who went missing from the remote Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh since July 5.
Kurung Kumey district is 103 km from state capital Itanagar. Kurung Kumey is one of the interior places of Arunachal Pradesh surrounded my mountain.
Talking to this correspondent over phone, Kurung Kumey deputy commissioner Nighee Bengia on Wednesday said IAF choppers will be deployed in the area to trace the missing persons from Thursday provided the weather conditions remain good. The missing construction workers who hailed from Assam were engaged in the construction of a BRO road from Damin to Huri.
“Due to the harsh and difficult terrain the rescue teams are facing problem to trace the missing persons. Therefore we have decided to deploy IAF choppers for the rescue mission. We have sought the assistance of the Indian Air Force. The NDRF will also assist the SDRF in the rescue mission. The mission will be carried out simultaneously both on land on air. We are also assisted by locals who are well acquainted with the terrain of the region,” the deputy commissioner said.
The DC further said medical team which was sent to carry out to the postmortem of a worker who was supposedly found dead in the Furak river returned back after they could not locate the body.
“We got an information through WhatsApp that the body of a worker was recovered from the Furak river which is a tributary of the Kumey river. Accordingly a medical team was sent to the location to carry out postmortem of the body. After the team reached the spot they didn’t find the body. The police have summoned the person who claimed to have seen the body. He may have spread the false rumour. The person who is from Rupai village is now untraceable,” the DC said.
Meanwhile Kurung Kumey SP Abhimanyu Poswal claimed that the construction workers fled their camps due to delay in payment of wages by the sub-contractors and lack of basic amenities in the camp.