Itanagar: One more labourer who went missing from the remote road construction site in Arunachal Pradesh was found, even as a search operation for 11 others was underway on Sunday, an official said.
With this, eight of the total 19 missing labourers have been found, he said.
While one of the labourers was found Saturday evening, the seven others were located by villagers on Friday night while walking in a disoriented condition on the road between Huri and Furak in Damin circle, Kurung Kumey's deputy commissioner Bengia Nighee said.
The rescued labourers told the local authorities that two workers died after falling into the Furak river, while one died on the way while resting on a stone.
"However, the rescue team has not found any body as of now," Nighee said.
The labourers, natives of Assam, fled the remote road construction site at the India-China border on July 5 after they were denied leave to go home for Eid. In two-three groups they took off for their homes on foot through jungles, the officer said.
The labourers have been missing since then.
Of the eight people rescued, five were air-lifted by an IAF helicopter to Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) at Naharlagun near Itanagar for treatment.
The rest were taken to the district hospital in Koloriang, Nighee said.
The eight rescued labourers were identified as Khairul Islam (26), Majidul Ali (30), Monohar Hussain (18), Inamul Hussain (18), Jainal Ali (45), Hamidul Hussain, Abdul Amin and Ibrahim Ali.
"Rescue operations will continue till all the missing persons are rescued. At present, SDRF, police and local rescue teams are camping at Damin," Nighee said.
The DC had earlier said that the body of one of the missing labourers was found in a river, but after the circle officer of Koloriang who visited Damin to take stock of the situation found no such body, he went back on his statement.
The project site is in Damin circle, about 200 km from Koloriang, the district headquarters.
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