Itanagar, July 25: With two more workers rescued on Sunday, so far 10 of the 19 Assam workers, who went missing near the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh’s Kurung Kumey district 20 days ago, have been rescued from a jungle, officials said.
Kurung Kumey Deputy Commissioner Bengia Nighee said on Sunday night that the two rescued workers — Kholebuddin Shek, 27, and Shamidul Shek,19, — are critically ill and they are being provided medical treatment at the government hospital in Naharlagun, near Itanagar.
The rescue team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) including local guide returned in the late evening due to the threat of poisonous snakes.
However, rescue operations resumed on Monday again to rescue the remaining 9 missing workers.
The two rescued workers, rescued by the SDRF, said that they left four persons behind them who were very critical and could not walk in the dense forest and mountainous terrain, the Deputy Commissioner said.
He said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper operation could not be done on Sunday due to bad weather.
After 18 days, eight workers were rescued from a jungle on Friday night and are now under medical treatment.
The DC, who is supervising the rescue operations himself, said after fleeing their project site camp at Huri on July 5 night, said the 19 workers had entered a dense forest infested with poisonous snakes and wild animals.
Subsequently, the workers split themselves into two groups of eight and 11, and the other group of 11 had moved in a different direction.
He said that a 25-member team of the SDRF accompanied by the police and local volunteers have been conducting search operations for the remaining missing people in Damin circle.
The 19 workers, mostly Muslims and residents of Assam, had been engaged by a contractor to work for a road construction undertaken by the Border Road Organisation (BRO).
Villagers reportedly informed the police that the workers left their work site after the contractor refused to grant leave for some days to celebrate Eid.
The workers had taken a shortcut jungle route to return to their homes in Assam’s Kokrajhar and Dhubri.
