Panchagarh lawmaker and Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan has said that the government came forward with an immediate rescue operation following the trawler capsize in the Karatoya River that took lives of at least 69 people.
The rescue operation is going on as per the directives of the prime minister, the minister on Thursday said while distributing humanitarian aid among the families of the deceased in the accident which took place on September 25.
Sujan said that the government has already distributed aid among the families in distress and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief has distributed cash among them. The families have been given Tk100,000 each, he told reporters.
The overloaded trawler carrying around 80 people, mostly Hindu devotees, turned turtle in the middle of the river while heading towards Badheshwar Temple of Boda upazila in Panchagarh on the occasion of Mahalaya.
Sujan urged the opposition not to do politics over the accident and requested them to stay beside the people in their distress.
Meanwhile, local administration has told the Dhaka Tribune that at least three more persons, including a child, are still missing from the accident. However, the divers could not recover any body yesterday, on the fifth day of the rescue operation.
