Rahul Gandhi meets kin of ferry disaster victims

Guwahati, May 2 (IANS) Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday cut short his Amethi visit to fly to Dhubri in Assam and express solidarity with the relatives of the ferry tragedy victims.

Accompanied by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and state Congress president Bhubaneswar Kalita, Rahul Gandhi visited the Madattari area and interacted with the grieving relatives who were still waiting for the bodies of their kin who died in the tragedy.

The Congress general secretary spent about 45 minutes at Maddattari and urged the chief minister to arrange for all possible measures to trace the bodies of the over 270 people killed in the ferry capsize tragedy.

He also assured the people that the state government will take all possible measures to ensure safety and security on the ferries plying in the Brahmaputra river so that such incidents do not occur again.

Earlier, Chief Minister Gogoi and state Congress president Kalita received Rahul Gandhi at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) airport. From the airport, an IAF helicopter carried Rahul Gandhi, Gogoi and Kalita to the place of the disaster.