BHUBANESWAR (India), June 29: At least 40 members of an elite Indian anti-insurgency unit were missing in the east of the country on Sunday after their boat capsized following an attack by Maoist rebels, police said.

The boat came under heavy rebel fire while patrolling a reservoir near Malkangiri in the south of the coastal state of Orissa, police said.

Eight policemen managed to swim ashore and were taken to hospital, four of them to be treated for gunshot wounds, police said. No bodies have yet been found, although rescue officials recovered some police caps.

“The boat capsized after insurgents started firing indiscriminately at the Greyhound force,” Malkangiri police superintendent Satish Kumar Gajbhiye told AFP by telephone from the area.

Officials said helicopters had been sent to the area to search for any police who may have survived in the 40-metre deep reservoir. Witnesses, however, said police had little hope of finding many more people alive.

The remote district, on the border with the insurgency-hit states of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, is in the heart of an eastern swathe of the country where the Maoists are active.—AFP

Opinion

Editorial

PTI in disarray
Updated 30 Nov, 2024

PTI in disarray

PTI’s protest plans came abruptly undone because key decisions were swayed by personal ambitions rather than political wisdom and restraint.
Tired tactics
30 Nov, 2024

Tired tactics

Matiullah's arrest appears to be a case of the state’s overzealous and misplaced application of the law.
Smog struggle
30 Nov, 2024

Smog struggle

AS smog continues to shroud parts of Pakistan, an Ipsos survey highlights the scope of this environmental hazard....
Solidarity with Palestine
Updated 29 Nov, 2024

Solidarity with Palestine

The wretched of the earth see in the Palestinian struggle against Israel a mirror of themselves.
Little relief for public
29 Nov, 2024

Little relief for public

INFLATION, the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services over a given period of time, has receded...
Right to education
29 Nov, 2024

Right to education

IT is troubling to learn that over 16,500 students of the University of Karachi (KU) have defaulted on fee payments...