Seven of 19 construction workers from Assam, who went missing from the remote Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh early this month, have been rescued, a senior official of Arunachal Pradesh Police (APP) said on Saturday.
They are being given media assistance and relatives are being contacted.
Nineteen of 30 workers, engaged in a BRO road project along the India-China border, reportedly ran away from the labour camp at Huri under Damin circle, about 200 km from the district headquarters, Koloriang, on July 5. Their missing report was filed by the BRO contractor Bengia Bado at Koloriang police station on July 13, Kurung Kumey DC Nighee Bengia had said.
“Seven out of 19 missing labourers have been rescued from near Huri village, Damin circle by a joint team of district police, BRO officials and local villagers on Friday night. They are being provided emergency medical care at BRO’s temporary health facility at Huri. Their families are being contacted. Search operation is on for others,” Arunachal Pradesh Police PRO Rohit Rajbir Singh said.
Confirming the rescue of the seven labourers, the Kurung Kumey DC said, “They are being given medical aid, 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 Saturday (today) morning to give them medical treatment. Their statement will be taken once they get fully recovered,” he said.
The DC also said that as approved by the government, an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter undertook a recce of the area but they could not find any clue of the remaining missing labourers.
The DC however stated that the search and rescue efforts are being hampered in absence of mobile connectivity. “Since there is connectivity issue in the interior area, we are not able to get hourly reports from the ground level search teams,” Bengia said.
