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Dhubri, April 24: Four Adivasi women drowned when the boat they were travelling in capsized in Dhir Beel in Dhubri district today.
Sources in Chapor police station said there were 11 women in the boat that capsized near Dhir Beel ghat. Local fishermen rescued seven and fished out the bodies of four women, who have been identified as Binondi Munda, 16, Pinky Munda, 29, Batasi Singh, 16, and Chintamoni Singh, 22.
The 11 women of Choibari tea estate under Chapor police station had come to the hillside area of Bahalpur, around 12km from the garden and 5km from the beel, in search of work in brick kilns. They, however, decided not to work in the Bangla bhatta (brick field) as it was on hilltop and material had to be carried on head, a police source said.
“A labour sardar (supplier), Zohir, brought them promising work in the brick fields but when they saw that they had to carry clay and mud from the foothills to the hill top, they decided not to work. They were returning in Zohir’s boat when the mishap occurred,” Hyder Ali Ahmed, a sub-inspector at Chapor police station, said.
The rescued seven were shifted to Chapor first referral unit hospital. The four bodies were sent to Dhubri civil hospital for post-mortem. The bodies were handed over to their family members this evening.
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