File photo

Itanagar:

The whereabouts of the 19 workers, belonging to Assam, untraceable who went missing last week near the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh’s Kurung Kumey district, are still untracable, officials said on July 20.

Kurung Kumey Deputy Commissioner Bengia Nighee said that district and police officials have been sent to Damin to know the whereabouts of the 19 workers, engaged by a contractor to work for a road construction undertaken by the Border Road Organisation (BRO).

“The feedback from the visiting officials was awaiting. The area is an extremely remote and dense forest. Considering the topography of the area, we have given requisition of Indian Air Force helicopter and the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) to undertake an extensive search operation to locate the workers,” the DC informed.

Nighee said that the recovery of a dead body of a worker is yet to be confirmed by the visiting officials.

Earlier on Tuesday, local officials quoting the villagers said that the body of one of the 19 missing workers was recovered from the nearby Kumey river. The incident took place last week but came to light only on Tuesday. Local villagers and police fear that all the workers might have drowned in the Kumey river.