One dead, several feared missing in Indian ferry collision

GAUHATI, India (AP) — Two passenger ferries collided Wednesday in a river in northeastern India, leaving at least one person dead and several others missing, officials said.

The head-on collision caused one of the boats to sink in the Brahmaputra river, said Ashok Barman, deputy commissioner of Jorhat city. The crash occurred near Nimati Ghat, a river port in Jorhat, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) from Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.

Four rescued passengers were taken to a hospital, where one died, Barman said.

Sixty people have been rescued, according to Prankrishna Gogoi of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority. He said about 120 people were on board the two boats.

The cause of the collision was not immediately clear.

The state’s chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, tweeted that he was pained to hear of the accident and would visit the site on Thursday.