Missing commando boat located, two bodies found

“Heavy machinery has been ordered from Vishakhapatanam to retrieve the boat by cutting it into pieces,” the DIG said. The vessel is buried in the soil at the bottom of the reservoir at a depth of about 43 metres.

With some missing jawans feared trapped inside the boat, the search-and-rescue operation was further intensified by raising the number of Naval divers to 30 and other security personnel to 1,000, SP, Malkangiri, S K Gajbhiye said, adding four choppers were assisting the effort.

Home Secretary T K Mishra said more lighting arrangements were being provided for smooth conduct of the operation.

Meanwhile, the Orissa government on Wednesday asked Additional Director General of Police (ADGP-Operation) and Revenue Disvisional Commissioner of Southern Division to submit a report on the situation.

More than 200 personnel of the elite Greyhound of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa police carried out intensive combing in the entire Naxalite-infested belt, where a high alert has already been sounded, sources said.

The Orissa government has sought about 600 additional CRPF personnel from the Centre to further intensify the operation, he said.

Besides some weapons including three rifles and a light machine gun, the search teams recovered a few uniforms, caps and shoes from the reservoir, Gajbhiye said.