Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, July 2 (IANS) A search and rescue team Wednesday recovered one more body from Orissa’s Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district where the Maoist rebels had attacked a police team and sunk their boat Sunday, official said. “The total number of bodies recovered from the reservoir is now two,” Deputy Inspector General of police Sanjib Panda told IANS.

Both the dead were Greyhound commandos, he said. The Greyhounds are Andhra Pradesh police’s elite anti-Maoist force.

“The first body of a Greyhound official was found on Monday with bullet injuries and hands tied,” he said.

“Today (Wednesday) we could trace the sunken vessel and the divers managed to fish out one dead body from it,” he said.

The official said the vessel is about 40 metres deep in water and the search operations had to be called off in the evening due to poor light.

“The team will try to retrieve the boat tomorrow (Thursday),” he said. “At this moment we don’t know if the boat has more dead bodies.”

According to Orissa Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda, there were 66 people on board the vessel that capsized after Maoists attacked them from the nearby hills.

Of them, 61 security personnel were from Andhra Pradesh, two were Orissa police constables and three were employees of the vessel.

Only 29 have been accounted for - including two boat employees and the two Orissa constables, official said. With the recovery of two bodies, 35 are still missing. Of the survivors, 10 have bullet wounds and are undergoing treatment, he said.