41 killed in launch capsize

At least 41 people, including seven children, drowned and around 65 went missing, as a launch sank after being hit by a cargo vessel in the Padma river in Manikganj yesterday.

The disaster took place hardly six months after a double-decker launch, Pinak-6, sank with more than 200 passengers in the same river near Mawa ghat in Munshiganj, leaving more than a hundred people dead.

The ill-fated launch, MV Mostafa, went down in mid-river on impact of the collision with cargo vessel Nargis-1, barely 10 minutes after it left Paturia terminal for Daulatdia ferry ghat in Rajbari at 11:40am.

Though the launch had a capacity of 140 passengers, it was carrying more than 200, claimed a number of survivors.

Around 80 to 90 passengers were either rescued or they swam about half a kilometre to reach the shore, said witnesses and locals.

Rescuers recovered 41 bodies till 2:00am, Rasheda Ferdous, deputy commissioner of Manikganj, told The Daily Star.

Of the dead, 26 were identified so far, said Rakibuzzaman, officer-in-charge of Shibalaya Police Station.

The victims include 15 women, said rescuers.

“I was travelling on the upper deck. About 10 minutes after the launch had left the terminal, I saw a cargo vessel hit it on the left side. The launch started tilting to one side,” said Golam Mostafa, one of the survivors.

“Immediately, I jumped from the launch and swam to the cargo vessel that hit it,” he said.

Another survivor, Jinat Munshi, said he along with many others jumped into the river from the launch's roof soon after the collision.

“Several fishing trawlers and boats came to our rescue. The river police then took me and around 30 others to the shore,” Munshi said.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation and the river police jointly launched a rescue operation around 12:00noon, and rescued at least 60 people, said officials.

Rescue efforts were on till late last night. Around 150 members of the Navy, Coast Guard, Fire Service, the BIWTA, the BIWTC and district administration took part in the operation.

A large crowd gather at Paturia ferry terminal to watch rescuers at work after a launch went down in the Padma following a collision with a cargo vessel yesterday. Photo: Palash Khan

“We are searching for missing passengers,” Mohammad Hossain, a director of the BIWTA, said last night.

Rescue vessel Rustam, which reached the spot from Mawa around 11:00pm, was working to salvage the sunken vessel, he said.

Meanwhile, police seized fertiliser-laden Nargis-1 on its way to Baghabari river port in Sirajganj and arrested its master Iqbal and his assistant Shahidul.

The shipping ministry and the Department of Shipping formed two committees to probe the incident and asked them to submit reports in 15 working days.

Visiting the spot in the evening, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said the families of the dead would get Tk 1 lakh each in compensation and Tk 5,000 each for burial.

Besides, Manikganj district administration announced that it would give the families of the victims Tk 20,000 each.

Officials of the Department of Shipping said the sunken vessel's annual fitness certificate was to expire on February 24, and that its owner had applied for its renewal.