Sunken launch recovered after 16 hrs, death toll rises to 7
PBC News: Rescuers have salvaged launch ‘ML Afsar Uddin’, which was capsized river Shitalakhya at Char Sayedpur in Narayanganj on Sunday afternoon.
Rescue ship Pratyay of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority lifted the launch at about 5:35 am on Monday. No bodies were found inside the launch.
But around 10:30am, the divers recovered one more body from in front of Shah Cement Factory in Muktapur. With this, the death toll from the capsize incident rose to seven.
Narayanganj Fire Service and Civil Defence inspector Golam Mostafa said, “Our two units are still working in search of the missing people.”
Fifteen passengers were rescued but 17 are still missing. The launch master Billal Hossain, 45, is also missing.
The bodies of two children, two men and two women were recovered till Sunday night..
The accident happened near under-construction ‘Nasim Osman Bridge’ at Koylaghat in between Al Amin Nagar and Char Syedpur under Bandar police station at about 2:30pm on Sunday.
Witnesses said the passenger launch ‘ML Ashrafuddin,’ which left Narayanganj launch ghat at about 1:58pm, capsized in the river Shitalakhya being rammed by a cargo vessel ‘MV Ruposhi-9’ at about 2:30pm.
The rescue vessel Pratyay started its rescue operation from 11pm on Sunday.
The rescued passengers claimed that 70 passengers were on board.
The Shipping Ministry, the Shipping Department and the deputy commissioner of Narayanganj have formed three separate probe committees.
