Railway Minister Roy expresses grief over Assam boat tragedy

New Delhi, May 1 (ANI): Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Tuesday expressed deep shock and grief over the loss of lives in Monday's boat tragedy on the Brahmaputra River in Assam.

In his condolence message, Roy conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and prayed to God to give them enough strength to bear this irreparable loss.

Earlier, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, announced an ex-gratia assistance to the families of those who lost their lives in the unfortunate boat tragedy.

An assistance of two lakh rupees has been announced for the next of kin of each ofhe deceased in the tragedy from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

Dr. Singh earlier spoke to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and offered all possible help to the state government for relief operations. Gogoi said that so far 40 bodies had been recovered from the river.

Meanwhile, search operations are still on for at least 100 people who have gone missing after a packed ferryboat carrying over 300 passengers capsized due to heavy storm at Burha-Burhi Char under Fakirganj police station in Dhubri District on Monday.

The army has rushed in two infantry columns, two engineer task forces with six boats, 12 divers and medical teams to assist in the rescue operations.

Besides the army, the Border Security Forces (BSF) water wing, the National Disaster Force (NDF) and police armed with mechanised boats are engaged in a massive rescue operation in the river. (ANI)