Ferry and trawler services on the Daulatdia-Paturia route have resumed five and a half hours after being suspended due to dense fog.
The services were halted at around 2am on Friday . Several hundred vehicles were stuck on both sides of the Padma due to the suspension of the services.
Due to this, passengers waiting on both sides of the river were suffering due to the biting cold.
At 6am, the terminals on both sides of the river were seen shrouded in thick fog. A long queue of vehicles was seen stuck on the road. The drivers and passengers suffered heavily, especially children and the elderly, due to the shivering cold.
Hasan Habib, a bus passenger from Meherpur, said he got suck at the terminal around 3am. Since then he has been waiting to cross the river and suffered due to the cold.
Kamrul Hasan, another Dhaka-bound passenger from Kushtia, said he had urgent business in Dhaka. He came by motorcycle and was stuck at the terminal. “I could have gone to Dhaka by now if motorcycles were allowed on the Padma Bridge,” he said.
The ferry services were halted to avoid accidents due to poor visibility, said Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) Daulatdia terminal manager (trade) Md Salahuddin. Later, when the fog density lessened, the ferry services started again around 7:30am, he said.
