Guwahati:  An 11-year-old boy has emerged a hero, after he saved his mother and aunt who were drowning in the middle of the Brahmaputra after a country-made single-engine boat, locally called as ‘bhutbhuti’ capsized in the mighty river on September 5. Three people, including two college girl students, died and as many as four are still missing.

Kamal Krishna Nath, a class six student of St Anthony School in North Guwahati, was in the boat “SB Brahmaputra” along with his mother and aunt when the accident took place near Ashwaklanta Temple.

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The boat carrying 36 passengers plied from Fancy Bazar area in Guwahati to North Guwahati on the other side of the river and capsized after hitting a concrete pillar of a water supply scheme, while it was about 200 m away from its destination.
 
Risking his own life, the brave little boy jumped thrice into the river to save three people including his mother, aunt and an unknown lady.
 
“When the boat overturned I was not scared. At that time, I was thinking of how to save all the people,” Kamal said.
 
When the boat was sinking, many people jumped into the river and were trying to reach a safer place. Along with other people, the little boy had also jumped and managed to swim across the river bank. When he saw that his mother and aunt were not there, he swam back to the place where the boat was capsized.
 
Kamal pulled his mother out of the water, who does not know how to swim, and brought her to a nearby pillar. He also saved his aunt, who was drowning in the river.
 
When the little brave heart saw a woman wearing a burqa struggling with her child, he jumped into the river and managed to pull both to a concrete pillar. However, the child slipped from the woman's hand and was swept away by the water. Seeing this, the woman jumped into the river to save her child and both were swept away.


 
“We all fell down in the river after the boat capsized. When my mother was drowning, I thought she was crying. But I never saw her, I saw her bracelet. Immediately I caught her and pulled her up. The unknown lady’s child was being swept away by the river. I caught her, but she told me to leave her,” Kamal said.
 
Describing the incident, the little boy’s mother Jitumoni Das said, “All of the people in the boat urged the boatman to go back, but he denied our appeal. Everyone was scared at that time. The engine of the boat stopped when it reached mid-river. I don’t know how to swim. But my son saved me,” Jitumoni Das said.