Crew member missing after ferry goes down in Padma
A man went missing after a ferry capsized in the Padma with nine trucks and more than 20 people on board yesterday morning.
The ferry heading towards Paturia terminal in Manikganj early in the morning had to stop moving when it was less than 500 metres from its destination because of foggy weather, said officials of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC).
BIWTC Deputy General Manager (Aricha) Khaled Newaz said after several hours of being anchored there, the vessel titled Rajanigandha was hit by a bulk carrier and sank around 8:15am.
However, survivors said the ferry sank because water seeped in and filled its hull.
Twenty men, including the ferry crew members and the truckers, jumped overboard before the vessel sank and were rescued by boatmen in the area.
Officials said a 39-year-old man named Humayun Kabir, the second master of Rajanigandha, had been missing.
Divers from the fire service, BIWTC and Bangladesh Navy searched for him until around 8:00pm and suspended the search for the night.
BIWTA salvage ship Hamza joined the rescue operation around noon and salvaged a lorry at 5:00pm and another at 7:30pm.
The second one was one and a half kilometres away from the spot.
The 280-tonne Rajanigandha will be salvaged when a larger rescue vessel joins the effort, said Anwarul Haque, an assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence.
Rajanigandha was carrying the trucks from Daulatdia to Paturia. It began the journey around 1:00am, BIWTC officials and survivors said.
When it anchored midriver, the truckers went to sleep.
"After daybreak, we were waiting for the fog to clear. Suddenly, we heard a crew member screaming at the top of his voice and telling everyone to jump overboard because the hull was taking in water," said one of the truck drivers named Ashique Sheikh.
"They did not give us any life jackets or anything. I jumped into the water to save my life," he told The Daily Star, adding that he was rescued by locals.
Sajjad Ali, another trucker, said, "The ferry sank slowly. That's why we had time to jump and swim away. I don't think there was any collision."
BIWTC formed a five-member committee to investigate the incident.
Manikganj district administration also formed a probe committee.
Six other ferries got stuck in Paturia and four each in Daulatdia and in the middle of the river last night because of poor visibility.
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