Indian Army officer posted in Congo, goes missing in Lake Kivu

An Army officer posted in the India contingent in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been missing since Saturday after he went kayaking in Lake Kivu.

Lt Col Gaurav Solanki had gone kayaking with a group of officers and all of them returned except Solanki. Rescue and search operations are on with speed boats and helicopters being used to locate the officer. Four days on, the search is yet to yield results.

“After kayaking, all returned however the officer did not. All efforts to include speed boats and employment of helicopter are being made to locate and rescue the officer,” said one of the officers cited above.

Congo has the largest deployment of Indian Army on foreign soil. The Indian brigade there is headquartered at Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.