The death toll from the capsize of a launch in Narayanganj after being struck by a cargo vessel has risen to eight as two more bodies were pulled out from the Shitalakshya River on Monday.
One of the bodies was recovered around 10am from the river in Munshiganj’s Char Muktapur area after locals reported it to the authorities, officials said. Another body was recovered around 2pm, said Deputy Assistant Director Abdullah Al Arefin of the Narayanganj Fire Service.
On Sunday, rescuers pulled out six bodies from the river.
Five of the deceased have been identified as Umme Khairun Fatima, 40, Joynal Bhuiyan, 50, Arifa Begum 35 and her son Shafayet Mahid, 2 and Shilpa Rani, 19.
Three of the eight victims remain unidentified.
Meanwhile, a Narayanganj court on Monday ordered three-day remand for each of the eight people linked to the cargo vessel, "MV Rupshi-9". They were detained from Gajaria in Munshiganj on Sunday when the River Police seized the cargo.
Passenger vessel “ML Ashraf Uddin” with at least 50 people on board, on the way to Munshiganj, sank after being hit by inland cargo carrier “MV Rupshi-9" on Sunday afternoon.
Footage of the sinking aired by local media showed people shouting in alarm as the cargo vessel collided with the ferry and jumped into the polluted waterway as the boat quickly sank.
The sunken ship was lifted early Monday morning, but no bodies were found inside. Search operations continued for a second day, but it’s unclear how many were still missing.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence estimates 15 to 20 more people went missing. Among the missing are Al Zaber Adnan, 32, Moslem Uddin Hatem, 55 and Zonbayer Hossain 35.