By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : At least seven bodies of policemen were recovered Thursday after a Maoist attack on a police team in the Balimela reservoir in Orissa Sunday left many injured and 37 men missing.
“The total number of bodies recovered from the reservoir is now 10 and seven of them were recovered today (Thursday),” Malkangiri district Superintendent of Police Satish Gajbhiye told IANS.
A police team of Andhra Pradesh police was returning in a boat from neighbouring Orissa, after conduction anti-Maoists operations, when they were attacked by leftist rebels.
Nine bodies recovered are of Greyhounds commandos – Andhra Pradesh police’s elite anti-Maoist force – while one belongs to a constable of Orissa Police, he said.
The official said the vessel is sunk in about 40 metres deep water and navy divers could manage to open the door of the vessel Thursday.
According to the police, there were 66 people on board when the boat capsized after Maoists attacked them.
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 injuries and are undergoing treatment.