Itanagar, Jul 20 (IANS): The whereabouts of the 19 workers, belonging to Assam, who went missing last week near the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh's Kurung Kumey district, are not yet known, officials said on Wednesday.

Kurung Kumey Deputy Commissioner Bengia Nighee said that district and police officials have been sent to Damin to know the whereabouts of the 19 workers, engaged by a contractor to work for a road construction undertaken by the Border Road Organisation (BRO).

"The feedback from the officials was awaited. The area is an extremely remote and dense forest. Considering the topography of the area, we have given requisition for an Indian Air Force helicopter and the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) to undertake an extensive search operation to locate the workers," the DC told IANS over phone from the district headquarters Koloriang.

Nighee said that the reports regarding the recovery of a dead body of a worker was not yet confirmed by the team.

On Tuesday, local officials, quoting villagers, said that the body of one of the 19 missing workers was recovered from nearby Kumey river.

The workers had been engaged by a contractor for the road construction projects of BRO. The incident took place last week but came to light only on Tuesday.

Local villagers and police feared that all the workers might have drowned in the Kumey river.

Villagers reportedly informed the police that the workers left their work site after the contractor refused to grant leave for some days and then the tragedy happened. The workers had taken a shortcut jungle route to return to their homes in Kokrajhar and Dhubri of Assam.