Tourist goes missing after fall from vessel in Sunderbans

Kolkata: A tourist went missing after falling into the water from the vessel in which he was travelling at Satjelia area under Sunderban Coastal Police station on Monday night.

The victim was a part of group of 23 persons, who were travelling without tourist guide in the core area of the forest when the incident occurred.

The missing person, who is feared to be drowned, was a resident of Chakdah in Nadia.

He had visited Sunderbans along with his friends. Police sources informed that the Saikat Roy was in a drunken state and lost balance and fell into the water.

"We had boarded the vessel from Kaikhali and were told that the guide will board the vessel mid way. But the accident occurred mid way," said Amit Sinha, a friend of the victim.

He added that none in the group knew how to swim and when Roy fell down in the water they urged the boatman to save him.

However, he refused and brought back the vessel to the boarding site which took another three hours. He also alleged that they were not provided with life jackets.

The group on reaching Kaikhali informed the Gosaba police station about the incident and search was conducted at the spot where Roy had fallen down but he could not be traced.

A team from the disaster management conducted fresh search again on Tuesday but Roy could not be found till the last reports came in.

His family members also visited the spot on Tuesday.