Rescue vessel Kandari 2 has detected a metallic object, which is much similar to capsized Pinak 6, under water of the Padma River near Mawa yesterday, six days after the overloaded launch sank.
Although the object’s length matched with Pinak 6, the rescuers were yet to confirm it until filling of this report at 10:30pm last night.
The salvage operation was suspended around 9pm for bad weather and the officials were not certain when the work would resume.
In the meantime, the death toll rose to 46 as six more bodies were found yesterday. Of them, 28 bodies were handed over to their family members after confirming their identities.
Unidentified 15 bodies were buried as anonymous – 12 on Friday while burial process of three others was completed yesterday.
Although there were names of 139 persons on Friday in the list prepared by the local administration, the government yesterday declared that the actual number of missing persons is 67.
The 49 persons whose names were earlier mentioned in the missing list have been found alive. Among them, 22 are male, 17 female and 10 children.
The Dhaka Tribune randomly made calls on phones of several of these 49 people and found the claim to be true.
Mojibur Rahman, inspector (investigation) of Srinagar police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that the mobile phones of these persons had been switched off while they also took much time to reach destinations following the incident on August 4 morning.
Object very similar
The trace of the metallic object has finally given the rescuers some light of hope.
Officials say rescue vessel Kandari 2 traced the metallic object at around 65 feet depth and it is about 16-17 metre long. The length of Pinak 6 launch is about 16 metres.
Engineers at the rescue vessel say the object remained under the water in tilted condition while the launch sank tilted aside. “The metallic object’s present position is around 400 metres away from the accidental spot.”
M Manjur Karim Chowdhury, chief hydrograph officer of Bangladesh Navy at Chittagong Port, told the Dhaka Tribune that although the suspected object matched, “we are still not confirm that it is Pinak 6. We found this object and keeping eye on it round the clock.”
He further mentioned that they were facing some troubles due to strong current. “The divers were not able to reach the spot for bad weather.”
Captain Nazrul Islam of Bangladesh Navy, coordinator of the rescue team, told the Dhaka Tribune that the metallic object had been traced on Friday night.
“We found it using ‘side scan navigation range,’ but we are still not confirmed whether it is Pinak 6. We will only able to say clearly about it after we pull it up,” he said.
Six bodies recovered
About the recovery of six bodies, Kutubur Rahman, additional superintendent of police of Munshiganj, told the Dhaka Tribune that those bodies had been found in Noakhali, Munshiganj and Bhola areas.
Of them, identity of one person was confirmed by an identity card found in his pocket. The victim is Ahmed Khan Litu. Relatives identified another named Moin – a three-year-old boy. Moin’s father Mizanur Rahman and mother Rokhsana Begum also died in the accident. Another person of the same family, Moin’s eight-year-old sister Mili is still missing.
GMM Jafarullah, the deputy commissioner of Madaripur, said they had completed the burial process of three more unidentified bodies yesterday at Shibpur municipality graveyard.