Assam: Mother of 3-yr-old recounts near-death experience aboard sinking ferry

JORHAT: A survivor of the ferry mishap in Assam's Nagaon district has recounted her experience of the spill-chilling capsize that has left a 30-year-old dead and two missing.

Rakhi Bora Hazarika, a mother of a 3-year-old daughter, who was travelling on the ferry, said that she was one of the last people to leave the ferry as she wanted to "urge people not to cause a ruckus and sit in peace."

Hazarika says she was the last to leave the doomed ferry and by the time rescue personnel reached her, the water has risen up to her knee's length.

"I thought that since I not know how to swim, I would not make it. Then, I recalled my daughter and husband and I could hear her calling out my name."

It was then when she saw a trolley bag floating on the water and grabbed onto it and finally managed to hang on.

ALSO READ: Assam: Two ferries collide in at Nimati ghat, Jorhat; around 65 missing after ferry sinks

Hazarika then saw a young girl on top of the overturned ferry who helped raise her mother out of the sinking ferry, she said.

"I implored the young girl to help me...I said that I am the mother of a 3-year-old child. The girl felt like GoA woman has died and two people are missing after two passenger boats collided with each other in the Brahmaputra River in Assam's Jorhat on Wednesday.

As many as 120 passengers were travelling in the boat when the incident happened, an official of the Inland Water Transport (IWT) Department said.

Jorhat Deputy Commissioner Ashok Barman said that 41 people have been rescued so far and nobody has been found yet.

Videos from the accident showed the boat capsizing after the collision, as some passengers tried to hold on to it while others jumped into the water to save themselves.

The passengers' luggage along with motorbikes and cars on the boat were also washed away in the river.d to me at that moment," she said.

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