Two Assam schoolboys swept away by floodwaters while taking selfies

Guwahati, June 19: In a tragic incident, two schoolboys were washed away by rising flood waters at Rangia in Assam's Kamrup Rural district on Sunday, officials said. Four boys were taking selfies on a submerged road, while a strong flow of water swept away two of them. The state disaster response team is conducting a search operation for the missing boys, identified as Juman Das and Himangshu Das, both Class 10 students.

In another incident, at least four persons went missing after a boat capsized in the Brahmaputra near Chabua area of Dibrugarh district.

The boat, carrying nine people, was going from Mahmora towards Balijan. While five persons managed to swim ashore, four others went missing. They were identified as Sunku Kurmi and Dhamen Das of Rohmoria Baratisuk, Shankar Yadav of Chabua, and Kishan Yadav of Mohmora.

It is suspected that overloading may have caused the boat to capsize. A total of 10 persons went missing in Assam on Sunday due to flood-related incidents. In Cachar district, three persons died due to landslides on Sunday while floods caused the death of another six.

Already 42,28,157 residents of 5,137 villages in 33 districts of the state are reeling under floods, as per the State Disaster Management Authority. Meanwhile, the Weather Department has issued an orange alert for three districts of the state which may receive heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours.