Police recovered the body of a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader from a branch of the Padma River in Ishwardi upazila on Sunday, 38 hours after he went missing when a picnic boat collided with a girder of the Hardinge Bridge.
The deceased was identified as Rakibuzzaman Rocky, member secretary of the Shailkupa municipality unit of JCD in Jhenaidah district.
Khandaker Shafiqul Islam, in-charge of the Laxmikunda River Police Camp, said police recovered the body from near Aktater Ghat in the Charkurulia area around 10:30am.
Locals spotted the body floating in the branch river around 9:00am and informed the river police, said Selim Reza, a schoolteacher of Charkurulia village.
Rocky, along with two others – Md Liton, 38, and Md Wahab, 45 – fell into the river around 9:15pm on Friday when a boat carrying 123 passengers collided with a girder near Pillar No. 5 of the Hardinge Bridge.
Liton and Wahab were rescued alive, but Rocky remained missing.
Fire service divers and river police conducted a rescue operation but failed to trace him.
The 123 passengers set out on a picnic by boat from Katlagari in Kushtia on Friday morning and were returning at night when the accident occurred.