Dibrugarh: A car carrying five wedding party members plunged into the Sessa River in Dibrugarh early on Monday morning, resulting in one fatality and four critical injuries. The incident occurred while the group was returning after dropping off a newly wedded bride at her marital home.
According to police, the five occupants, all residents of Tamulkhat village in Tengakhat, were part of a wedding party that had accompanied the bride to her new home in Bokul Majgaon village, approximately 33-km away. The accident took place around 2.30 am on the Lahowal-Joypur road when their vehicle veered off course and plummeted into the river.
"The car lost control about 8-10 metres before a bridge and instead of proceeding straight, it swerved off the road and fell into the river. Initial investigations suggest that heavy fog may have contributed to the accident, causing the occupants to misjudge the road," a police official said.
Locals, alerted by the sound of the crash, rushed to the scene and managed to rescue four occupants. However, their efforts to save the fifth person were thwarted as the vehicle sank deeper into the river.
Priyankur Hazarika, a local among the first to respond to the incident, said, "We heard a loud splash and immediately rushed to help. The car was sinking rapidly. We somehow managed to pull out four occupants from the submerged vehicle. However, one passenger remained trapped as the car continued to sink deeper."
Despite prompt response from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), it took nearly five hours to retrieve the submerged vehicle and recover the body of 27-year-old Ishan Gogoi, who was trapped inside. The four survivors, identified as the bride's brother Latumoni Gogoi (28), her two cousins, Tridiv Gogoi (30) and Akhiraj Gogoi (28) and Biplab Gogoi (29), were rushed to the Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) for emergency treatment. The victim's body has been transferred to AMCH for an autopsy.