Nine people including three children were killed in a road accident after a microbus carrying a wedding party plunged into a canal after a bridge collapsed in Amtali, Barguna on Saturday.
The accident took place on a Haldiya bridge connecting Naura and Haldiya Bazar around 2pm, said Amtali police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shakhawat Hossain Tipu.
The tragic end of those people left the whole area in mourning, with the cries of the bereaved filling the air.
The bride’s family members and relatives were traveling in a microbus and an auto-rickshaw to the groom’s house around 1:30pm. As the vehicles crossed the Haldiya Bridge, the central portion of the bridge collapsed, causing the vehicles to plunge into the river. The passengers in the auto-rickshaw managed to swim to safety, but those in the microbus drowned, said the OC.
A total of nine bodies, including six women and three children, have been recovered, said the police official.
The victims were relatives of the bride.
The deceased are Rubia, 45, Raiti, 22, Fatema, 55, Rukaiyat Islam, 4, Tahiya Mehjabin Azad, 7, Tasfia, 14, Hridi, 4 and Ruby Begum, 35, of Madaripur's Shibchar upazila and Jakia Begum, 35 and her daughter Hridi of Amtali upazila's Haldia village.
The police, fire service, and residents carried out the rescue operations.
Asaduzzaman, chairman of the Haldia Union Parishad, said that the vehicle carrying mostly women and children sank in the canal while crossing a dilapidated bridge.
Eyewitnesses said that as soon as the microbus and auto-rickshaw reached the middle of the bridge, it collapsed with a thud, causing the vehicles to fall into the river.
They immediately tried to rescue the victims with the help of locals.
Later, the fire service and police joined the rescue operation.
Local residents reported that the bridge was quite old and had not been repaired for a long time.
Abul Kalam Azad, husband of a deceased, said: “I have lost everything. My two daughters and wife are dead. I am now helpless.”
Sohail Mia, who was in the microbus, said: “There were 16 passengers in the microbus heading to the groom’s house. As soon as we got on the Haldiya Hat Bridge, it collapsed, and the microbus fell into the river. Three of us managed to swim to safety. Later, locals, the fire service, and the police recovered nine bodies.”
The bodies were taken to Amtali Upazila Health Complex.
Following the incident, thousands of people protested, demanding justice for the victims and punishment for the contractor, one Shahidul Islam Mridha, who constructed the bridge around 10 years back.
Hearing the incident, local lawmaker Golam Sarwar Tuku, Deputy Commissioner Md Rafiqul Islam, Upazila Parishad Chairman Alhaj Golam Sarwar Forkan and others rushed to the spot.
Lawmaker Tuku said: “I have expressed condolences to the victims’ families at the hospital and visited the site. I have also calmed the agitated people at the site. If irregularities in the bridge construction led to this incident, an investigation will be conducted, and legal action will be taken. Financial assistance will be provided to the victims’ families.”
Deputy Commissioner Md Rafiqul Islam said he has visited the site. Legal action will be taken against the contractor for irregularities in the bridge construction.”
The bodies were handed over to the families without autopsies upon appeals from the victims’ families, said the OC.
Amtali Fire Service In-Charge Md Hanif said despite four hours of efforts they could not recover the microbus. The rescue operation was still going on.
There are allegations that contractor Mridha built the bridge poorly. As a result, the central beam of the bridge broke within five years of its construction. For the past ten years, around 50,000 people from Haldiya Union, Chawra, and nearby areas have been using the weakened bridge.
It was learned that in the fiscal year 2008-09, the iron bridge over the Chawra River at Haldiya Hat, was built at a cost of approximately Tk2 crore.
The construction contract was awarded to Mridha, the then-chairman of Haldiya Union Parishad and president of the local Awami League.
Denying the allegation, contractor Mridha claimed: “I constructed the bridge properly. There were no irregularities in the construction.”
Amtali Upazila Engineer Abdullah Al Mamun said: “The bridge was constructed before I joined Amtali. I have no knowledge about it.”
