Barisal bound triple-decker launch Sundarban 8 with more than 1,000 passengers aboard got stuck on underwater shoal for four hours in the Meghna river.
Md Shahidullah, deputy director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, said the launch released from the shoal after floated by high-tide and reached Barisal safely after 9:30am.
Saidur Rahman Rintu, Barisal Sadar upazila chairman and managing director of Sundarban Navigation, said the master of the launch had mistaken the route and got stuck on an unmarked underwater shoal of Ilisha River, a branch of Meghna, near Ilisha ferry ghat of Bhola around 4am.
The launch left Dhaka Sadarghat on Monday night with more than 1,000 Barisal-bound passengers, said Md Barkat, in-charge of the Ilisha investigation centre of police.
Many of the passengers reached Barisal using alternative ways, he added.
The launch was freed from being stuck on the shoal around 8:30am as the load of the launch was reduced after many of the passengers had left the vessel.
