Hopes fade for Indian ferry survivor search
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E-mail Xinhua, May 2, 2012
The chances of finding more survivors from the doomed ferry which capsized, disintegrated and sank in the northeastern Indian state Assam Monday became dim, reported local media on Tuesday.
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Rescue workers pull a part of a damaged boat to shore after it sank on the Brahmaputra River, at Buraburi village in Dhubri district of the northeastern Indian state of Assam, May 1, 2012. Rescue workers fought heavy wind and rain to search for survivors after at least 105 people drowned on an overloaded ferry carrying about 300 people that sank at night on one of India's largest rivers on Monday.[Chinanews.com] |
![Rescue workers pull a part of a damaged boat to shore after it sank on the Brahmaputra River, at Buraburi village in Dhubri district of the northeastern Indian state of Assam, May 1, 2012. Rescue workers fought heavy wind and rain to search for survivors after at least 105 people drowned on an overloaded ferry carrying about 300 people that sank at night on one of India's largest rivers on Monday.[Chinanews.com]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120502/000cf1bdd03f110ada0e17.jpg "Rescue workers pull a part of a damaged boat to shore after it sank on the Brahmaputra River, at Buraburi village in Dhubri district of the northeastern Indian state of Assam, May 1, 2012. Rescue workers fought heavy wind and rain to search for survivors after at least 105 people drowned on an overloaded ferry carrying about 300 people that sank at night on one of India's largest rivers on Monday.[Chinanews.com]")
The conclusion came as authorities failed to find one person or one body in the on-going rescue operation on the giant Brahmaputra River on Tuesday.
The toll from the tragedy is estimated at around 270, after 80 people survived by swimming to safe places or being rescued out of water Monday evening after the double-decked ferry carrying some 350 was almost destroyed by a fierce storm.
"Some bodies were fished out till late Monday night by rescuers but it is difficult to estimate the toll as some relatives of the deceased have taken the bodies home for burial," the Indo-Asian News Service quoted an administration official as saying.
Only 17 bodies were sent for post-mortem so far, said the official from the Dhubri district in western Assam where the incident took place.
"It's almost 24 hours after the tragedy now and there is hardly any chance that anyone is alive. Some of the survivors also told us that most of the passengers of the ferry were women and children," he said.
Border Security Force water wing's deputy commandant Rajesh Bhandoria also told the media that the search was so far unsuccessful.
"Till 17:00 p.m. Tuesday, we were not able to find even a single body," he said.
Apart from 20 deep water divers of the Border Security Force, a paramilitary force of the country, authorities also used the services of helicopters in the rescue operation.
