An overcrowded launch has now gotten stuck on a shoal in the Meghna river in Chandpur with more than 800 passengers aboard beyond its capacity exposing gross negligence and weak monitoring in the water transport sector.
MV Sattar Khan-1 started for Patuakhali from Sadarghat Bus Terminar on Friday afternoon only to be stuck on the shoal at Charmonipur area in Chandpur’s Haimchar upazila around 10:30pm.
A launch passenger, Mojibur Rahman, said: “The launch stopped suddenly with a big shake. We all thought it was going to sink. The passengers started running from one end to another. Later we came to know that the lower part of the launch has gotten stuck.”
After that, they staged demonstrations demanding their return to Patuakhali by another transport.
They became calm only after local administration promised that they would be sent to their destination by an alternative transport.
The passengers had to spend the whole night at the shoal until they were rescued by Raf Raf-2 launch 15 hours later at around 1:30.
Executive Magistrate Md Rakibul Hasan said the passengers would be sent to Patuakhali by another launch in the afternoon while the stuck launch will be hauled to safety after the tide comes in.
He added that police had detailed all the launch staff and seized its papers for carrying passengers beyond its capacity.
Chandpur shipping police’s Officer-in-Charge Jahidul Islam confirmed the rescue of the passengers as well as arrest of the stuck launch staff and seizure of its papers.
A passenger, Shanu Miah, told reporters that many passengers, particularly children, had fallen sick due to scarcity of food and water inside the launch.
When Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Subrata Kumar Dey was asked about this, he said: “We have rescued the passengers but could not provide them food on board.”
Earlier on August 4, overcrowded Pinak 6 launch capsized in the Padma River, 800 yards off Mawa ghat (jetty) with over 250 passengers on board while it was heading towards the jetty
Forty eight bodies have so far been recovered from the Meghna and Padma rivers after the launch capsized in the mighty river while 62 passengers of the ill-fated launch are still missing.
