Jorhat, Oct. 15: A ferry carrying 200 passengers on its way to Kamalabari ghat on Majuli from Neematighat in Jorhat was stranded in the middle of the Brahmaputra for close to five hours today.

The ferry had set out from Neematighat around 2pm and was stuck in the sandbar till around 7 this evening.

The xatradhikars (monastic heads) of Natun Kamalabari Xatra and Garmur Xatra were in the ferry.

Another ferry, which was sent to rescue the passengers, could not get close to the stranded one because of shallow waters. An effort to tow the ferry with a rope also failed when the rope broke.

Narayan Chandra Goswami, xatradhikar of the Natun Kamalabari Xatra, said a small boat transported about 40 to 50 people from the stranded ferry to the one sent to rescue them, but many refused to leave, as they had their vehicles with them.

“I had my car with me and, therefore, did not want to leave the vehicle behind,” he said.

Later, an improvised country boat with a motor was pressed into service by the district administration.

The xatradhikar told The Telegraph over phone from the motorboat that he was very uncomfortable in the small boat in which he and the others were being transported and had been forced to leave his vehicle behind.

He said the ferry got stranded, as the navigator had taken them on a wrong route.

“Since 2pm all the other ferries to and fro Majuli have made the passage safely except for this one. The reason is that the navigator took us through a wrong way,” he said.

The xatradhikar said he and the other passengers would demand that the government kept maar naos (two boats tied together like a raft) ready for rescue operations.