Tractor washed away in swollen river; one dead, one missing

Rudrapur: A woman died and her daughter went missing after a tractor turned turtle while crossing the swollen Kosi river in Bazpur town of Udham Singh Nagar district on Tuesday evening.
Out of the six people on board the tractor, four people somehow escaped but a mother-daughter duo was washed away by the water current.
On Wednesday morning, the emergency services team managed to find the body of the woman and also pulled out the submerged tractor.However, the girl was missing till the time of filing this report and the rescue operation was underway.
Pramod Kumar, additional superintendent of police (ASP), Kashipur, said that Kosi river has swelled due to heavy rainfall and water levels have crossed the danger levels.
“Tractors (in private capacity) are deployed at the Manki Ghat in the Sultanpur Patti of Bazpur town and they charge a minimal fee to help people cross the river as this is a shortcut to reach Bazpur. On Tuesday evening, Munni Devi (35), her husband Mangal Singh, and their seven-year-old daughter Simran boarded a tractor to cross the river. The tractor already had two passengers and three bikes on board. As soon as the tractor entered the river, the driver lost control over the vehicle as the water level was too high. As a consequence, the tractor got swept away in the water. Mangal Singh, the tractor driver, and the two others managed to swim to the bank of the river. However, Munni Devi and Simran got swept away,” ASP Kumar said.
Subsequently, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was pressed into service but the rescue operation was soon stopped as it got dark in the night. The operation commenced again on Wednesday morning with 39 divers. “We are using backhoes to divert the water flow. The body of the mother was found beneath the tractor hood while the girl is still missing,” said CO Bazpur, Vandana Verma.