GUWAHATI: A popular floating restaurant called South Coast capsized in the Brahmaputra close to Lachit Ghat in Guwahati on the night of Thursday, September 2.
The barge that had been repurposed as a restaurant was docked opposite the Fancy Bazar police outpost on MG Road. Reports said it went completely underwater in a matter of hours after water entered the hull.
Eyewitnesses said one person who was on the barge at the time of the incident was able to escape without injury.
"The boat was docked here without incident yesterday, but it was completely under water when I arrived in the morning,” the watchman of a nearby parking area said.
The restaurant has been closed for months now due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Meanwhile, officials of the Inland Water Transport (IWT) department claimed that a hole in the barge’s hull could be the reason behind the capsizing.
"We could have intervened had the incident occurred in the morning," Jyoti Nath Das of IWT told G Plus. He added that strong currents and waves in the Brahmaputra, currently flowing over the Danger Level in Guwahati, could have been partially responsible for the incident.
G Plus contacted South Coast’s office in Christian Basti, and was told the restaurant owner was out of town and unavailable for comments.