Zubeen Garg on yacht trip in Singapore when he died in accident: Festival organiser

Guwahati, Sep 19 (PTI) Assam's popular singer Zubeen Garg had gone on a yacht trip with a few members of the local Assamese community when an accident occurred, which claimed his life in Singapore, Chief Organiser of the North East India Festival, Shyamkanu Mahanta, said.

The three-day festival, which was scheduled to begin from September 19, was cancelled following the tragedy.

Zubeen had arrived in Singapore on Wednesday and was ''scheduled to be with us at the festival tomorrow, meeting and interacting with people,'' Mahanta told PTI from the island country.

Earlier in the day, the entire North East India Festival (NEIF) team was engaged in a business meeting with senior Singaporean industrialists and policymakers at a hotel to facilitate investments in Northeast India, he said.

''During the meeting, we received a call from Zubeen’s manager informing us that he had met with an accident and had been rushed to Singapore General Hospital.

"We later learned that a few members of the local Assamese community had taken him on a yacht visit, of which we had no prior knowledge,'' Mahanta said.

He said that he was taken to a hospital and has since been working closely with the High Commission to complete the required procedures.

''This is a monumental loss, and words cannot express the depth of our grief. In light of this tragedy, we are cancelling the event,” Mahanta said. PTI DG NN