By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : A search and rescue team Thursday recovered three more bodies of policemen from the Balimela reservoir in Orissa where Maoists attacked a police team and sunk their boat Sunday.
“The total number of bodies recovered from the reservoir is now five,” Malkangiri district Superintendent of Police Satish Gajbhiye told IANS.
Four bodies are of Greyhounds commandos – Andhra Pradesh police’s elite anti-Maoist force – while the remaining one belongs to a constable of Orissa Police, he said.
The official said the vessel is sunk in about 40 metres deep water and they are yet to take out any dead body from the boat where some men could have been trapped and drowned.
According to the police, there were 66 people on board the vessel that capsized after Maoists attacked them from the nearby hills.
Of them, 61 security personnel were from Andhra Pradesh, two were Orissa police constables and three were employees of the vessel owner.
Only 29 have been accounted for – including two boat employees and the two Orissa constables, police said. Of the survivors, 10 have bullet wounds and are undergoing treatment. Others are still missing.