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Soldier dies while training as Army tank sinks in Indira Gandhi canal
The part of the canal where the tank submerged was 200 feet wide and 30 feet deep. “The tanks are taken into water as part of the training, there must have been a technical issue which led to the tank sinking into the water,” Kumar said.
By evening, the Army and Rapid Action Force had been deployed in the area in addition to police and CRPF, and mobile internet services were suspended in the district of Kokrajhar.
A 32-year-old Army jawan lost his life after an Army tank sank into the Indira Gandhi canal during training on Tuesday morning, officials said.
Deepak Khorwal, a non-commissioned officer (NCO) hailing from West Bengal, lost his life during training while another person managed to escape. Rohitash Kumar, in-charge of the police outpost and the Investigating Officer in the case said, “There is a training and practice involving army tanks which are taken into water. However, in this case, the tank got submerged in the canal. While a commander managed to escape, Khorwal was sitting inside and could not get out.”
The incident took place in Suratgarh early Tuesday morning.
The part of the canal where the tank submerged was 200 feet wide and 30 feet deep. “The tanks are taken into water as part of the training, there must have been a technical issue which led to the tank sinking into the water,” Kumar said.
While the incident happened sometime around 9:30 am, the body could be retrieved only 9 hours later, at around 6:30 pm, while the tank was also retrieved. Officials said that the exercise was part of a routine training. The army has not put out an official statement as yet.
Kalawati Choudhary, SHO at Rajiasar police station, said that a ‘marg’, or death, has been recorded by the police.
“A postmortem was conducted today and the body has been handed over to the Army,” Choudhary said.
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