Manipur: Joint team of NDRF, SDRF, Fire Services retrieve body of old man from river

A joint team of personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and State Fire Services on Sunday retrieved the body of an elderly man who had drowned in Imphal river in Bhishnupur's Napat Village.

The body identified as Salamm Kumar Meetei (68) was retrieved from the river by around 2.00 pm on yesterday.

Inspector H. Johnson Hmar, of 12 BN NDRF said that the rescue operation started since July 10 and continued till July 12.

Giving the details about the incident, he said, "The incident took place when the old person was returning from his agriculture farm on a bicycle and was crossing the Imphal River around 10.30 am on July 10. While trying to pull up his bicycle from the boat after crossing the Imphal River, he slipped and fell in the river along with the cycle."

"As soon as we got the report of person falling in the river, we started a search and rescue mission. When efforts failed, the State Fire Services was informed and a search operation was conducted. Meanwhile, the NDRF and SDRF were called in, and since then the search operations were conducted jointly with three boots and deep water driver," he added

Inspector H. Johnson Hmar further said that due to bad weather, the search operation could not bear fruit for hours.

"However, on Sunday morning the search operation was conducted and the body of the old man was retrieved by the team of NDRF, SDRF and fire service," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )