One of two Armed Police Force (APF) personnel who went missing during a disaster preparedness drill in the Koshi River remains unaccounted for as of Saturday afternoon, authorities confirmed.

The missing diver, Suraj Saud, was swept away during a training exercise conducted on Thursday in Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality–1 of Saptari district. Saud, stationed at number 2 Chhinnamasta Brigade Headquarters and officially posted with number 13 Battalion Parsa, had been participating in the province-level monsoon disaster preparedness programme.

His colleague, Hardev Rajbanshi, posted at Ilam’s number 1 Sriantu Battalion and currently serving at the Dantakali Special Task Training School in Saptari, was found dead approximately three kilometres downstream from the incident site near the Koshi Barrage.

Superintendent of Police Gyanmani Paudel of the APF number 6 Headquarters in Saptari confirmed the ongoing search effort. “Divers and disaster response teams from the Dantakali Training Centre, number 6 Battalion, and the Disaster Management Training School in Kurintar have been deployed to locate the missing personnel,” he said.

Both men were caught in a whirlpool while practising near sluice gates numbered 55/56, north of the Koshi Barrage when the accident took place. Following the accident, the planned disaster drill was suspended indefinitely.

Rajbanshi and Saud had both completed their diver training in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Rajbanshi hailed from Jhapa and Saud from Doti.