Nearly 25 Punjabi youth missing after boat capsizes near Panama

Kapurthala/Jalandhar, Jan 18: Nearly 25 youth from Punjab were missing when the boat, on which they were travelling to the US, capsized near Panama, according to information based on the eyewitness account of a fellow traveller from Punjab reaching here.

Though the boat capsized on January 10, the information reached family members of two of the victims after three to four days. The families met police officials in Kapurthala town, 185 km from Chandigarh on Sunday.

"Survivor" Sonu, who belongs to Punjab, shared information on the boat accident with family members of two of the youth - Gurjit Singh and Gurvinder Singh - who are from villages in Kapurthala district, police officials said.

Police officials said that families of the victims have filed a complaint following which investigations are being made against a travel agent who had collected lakhs of rupees from each youth to send them abroad.

Kapurthala district police chief Rajinder Singh told media that the travel agent, Kulwinder Singh, had been booked and teams were trying to trace him.

Aam Aadmi Party leader and former legislator Sukhpal Khaira shared information about the incident with media here on Sunday after one of the affected families approached him.

He sought immediate intervention of the union and the Punjab governments in the matter.

IANS