Malkangiri:
Ten days after the Greyhound forces were attacked by Naxals in Orissa's Malkangiri district, the authorities have finally retrieved the boat which sunk after the attack.
This is again indication of how ill equipped the government is in dealing with the Naxal's in remote areas.
It took ten days for Navy divers to retrieve this launch, that was carrying the elite Greyhound anti-Naxal force in the Balimela reservoir.
The divers found eight more bodies taking the count to 33 and five are still missing.
Satish Gajbhiye, SP, Malkangiri said, ",He says the Army/Navy operation may be over, the police operation will continue to look for the missing people and the arms.",
The salvage operation was tough, the rescuers struggled with poor equipment, lack of manpower and bad weather.
The operation was conducted in secrecy and no one was allowed close to the reservoir. The area is so remote locally it's called Cut-off.
When NDTV visited here two years ago, the only way to reach Cut-off was by the ferry service run with the help of two boats.
Now, one is sunk and the other is with the Navy, so the villagers living across the reservoir are stranded. Fishing, the only source of livelihood, has stopped as well.
",We are facing problems from both, the Naxals as well as the police, we can't do anything,", a villager said.
The Maoist attack in Malkangiri, is one of the biggest in recent years and is another reminder that anti-Naxal operations have little resources to fight the red terror.