Dibrugarh, Dec 11: At least 21 labourers from Assam are feared dead after a dump truck carrying them plunged nearly 1,000 feet into a gorge along the Hayuliang–Chaglagam Road in Arunachal Pradesh on December 7.
Despite the incident occurring five days earlier, police received information only on Wednesday night and rushed to the spot. A search and rescue operation began early Thursday morning.
According to reports, the dump truck was ferrying labourers to a construction site when it skidded off the road and fell into the deep gorge.
Nineteen of the labourers have been identified, all from Gelapukhuri Tea Estate in Tinsukia district. They are: Budheswar Deep, Rahul Kumar, Samir Deep, Joon Kumar, Pankaj Manki, Ajay Manki, Bijay Kumar, Abhay Bhumij, Rohit Manki, Birendra Kumar, Agar Tanti, Dhiren Chetia, Rajani Naag, Deep Gowala, Ramchabak Sonar, Sonatan Naag, Sanjay Kumar, Karan Kumar and Jonas Munda.
Sources said 13 bodies have been recovered so far.
Tinsukia Superintendent of Police Mayank Kumar confirmed that the labourers were from the district and had travelled to Arunachal Pradesh for the construction of a hostel.
Attempts to contact Anjaw SP Anurag Dwivedi for further details remained unsuccessful as calls went unanswered.
