Four days. Thousands of meters of riverbank combed. And still no trace of three people who vanished into the cold, unforgiving waters of the Lohit River deep in the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh.
A Terrifying Dawn on NH-113
It was barely 6 in the morning on August 13 when tragedy struck along NH-113 on the Walong-Hawai road in Anjaw district — a remote stretch that runs dangerously close to the India-China border. A Delhi-registered vehicle carrying 10 people went off the road in the Sarti area, plunging nearly 300 feet down a cliff into a deep gorge before crashing into the Lohit River below. The vehicle was swallowed whole by the river. Just like that. One woman lost her life. Six others — four men, a woman, and a child — were pulled out with injuries. But three people are still missing, somewhere in the river’s powerful current.
A Race Against the River
The search entered its fourth day on Sunday, August 16, with NDRF teams beginning operations at around 8:45 am, assisted by the SDRF. The focus has shifted to downstream stretches of the Lohit, where rescuers believe the missing may have been carried by the sheer force of the current. This is brutal terrain. The Lohit is no calm river — it runs fast, deep, and turbulent through narrow gorges, making every search dive a risk in itself.
On Saturday, SDRF and local police teams had conducted an extensive combing operation covering around 12 kilometres from the accident site, but the missing persons could not be traced, and the operation was called off at around 5 pm. When sunset forces rescuers to stop, the weight of those empty hands must feel crushing for the families waiting somewhere far away.
Bringing in the Big Guns
Authorities had sought NDRF assistance as the SDRF had limited resources for the search and recovery operation. The NDRF team has now taken over specialised underwater search operations, working in coordination with the DDMA, SDRF, Anjaw Police, the Indian Army, district administration, and local volunteers. It is a massive, multi-agency effort playing out in one of India’s most isolated and challenging regions. Medical teams remain on standby at the site. Every precaution is being taken. And yet, the river keeps its secrets.
The Wait That Feels Endless
Efforts are continuing to locate the three missing persons and recover the submerged vehicle from the Lohit River. What started as what might have been an ordinary road journey through Arunachal’s spectacular but treacherous highways has turned into a nightmare that now stretches past 96 hours. Somewhere out there, three families are still waiting. The rescuers know that, and they’re not stopping.
When roads hug cliffs and rivers run wild, the margin for error is zero. Arunachal’s mountains don’t forgive easily — and right now, all anyone can do is keep searching and hope the Lohit gives something back.
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