15 people missing, 25 injured as three launches capsize in river Padma [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

15 people missing, 25 injured as three launches capsize in river Padma

Local September 12, 2017

At least 15 people went missing and 25 others became injured as three launches anchored near Wapda launch jetty in Naria Upazila in Shariatpur capsized in river Padma on early Monday due to river erosion and strong current.
The Naria thana police prepared a list of 12 people until 5:00pm Monday. They are : Rabin Sardar, 20, Liton Sheikh, 25, Manik Matobbor, 35, Bashir, 29, Md Rafique, 50, Palash, 20, Sajal, 25, Zakir Hossain, 45, Shah Alam, 35, Salahuddin, 30, Joy, 19, and Sadeque, 25, said Naria police station sub-inspector Habibur Rahman.
Mohammad Ali of village Lonsing under Naria, who was a passenger of a launch, managed to swim ashore in injured condition. He said his 5-month old baby, 25-year old wife Parvin and mother-in-law Fakhrunnesa who had been sleeping in the launch also went missing.
He said that he could not enlist their names as missing as he was at the hospital. None of the missing people was rescued until filing the report at 7:30pm.
Divers of fire service and people engaged in rescuing the victims said that the rescue operation was badly hampered due to rough weather and strong current.
Meanwhile, the district administration has formed a five-member probe committee led by additional deputy commissioner (revenue) Mizanur Rahman and asked the committee to submit its report by 24 hours, said Shariatpur deputy commissioner in-charge Mahbuba Akhter.
Police, surviving passengers and staff of the launches and local people said MV Mouchak-2 from Sadarghat and MV Naria-2 and Mahanagar from Narayanganj reached WAPDA jetty under Naria Upazila around 4:00am when most of the passengers got down from the launches.
As it was still dark in the night, the launches’ staff and a few passengers did not get down from the launches and had been waiting for sunlight after anchoring by the side of a bamboo grove near WAPDA jetty,
they said.
Due to strong current and river erosion, they said, huge chunks of mud with bamboos fell into the river causing the three launches to capsize at around 5:00am, they said.
They said that there might have been 50 staff and passengers on the launches when those capsized.
Local people said they, on hearing huge sound and hue and cry of the victims, rushed to the spot and rescued some of the victims from the river while some managed to swim
ashore.
Police and local people said they found about 25 people sick and injured after the launches capsized.
Shariatpur fire service station officer Abdur Rahman said divers from Dhaka, Maowa and Shariatpur reached the spot and began rescue operation. But the rescue operation was badly hampered due to rough weather.
He said that they spotted one of the capsized launch, Mouchak-2, at Dularchar, nearly half a kilometer away from the WAPDA Jetty, but the two others were still untraced.
The fire service officer said that an 11-member team of Bangladesh Navy left Khulna for Shariatpur to join the rescue and salvage operation.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority chairman Mozammel Haque, who visited the spot, primarily identified unexpected river erosion, strong current and rough weather as the reasons of the accident.
He said that salvage ship Prottoy reached the spot at around 5:00pm.
On hearing the news of the launch capsize, thousands of people including relatives of the missing people had gathered on the bank of the river.
Launch owners said they had kept shut movement of launches on WAPDA-Shureshwar-Dhaka and WAPDA-Shureshwar-Narayanganj routes after the launches capsized.
Rescue operation was suspended until this morning, a fire service official said.