News Desk :
As the wait dragged into a second day, it was learnt that the rescue ship ‘Pratya’ was not going to pick up the Ro-Ro ferry, named ‘Shah Amanat’, lying capsized in the Padma River at Manikganj’s Paturia pier.
Instead, the rescue ship ‘Rustam’ left for Paturia from Madaripur’s Banglabazar on Friday even though it lacked capacity to pull the 800-tonneferry, which sank with several vehicles on board upon docking at the jetty, reports bdnews24.com.
The rescue efforts at Paturia’s terminal No. 5 entered a third day as BIWTA, fire service, navy and coast guard personnel worked to retrieve the sunken cargo vehicles.
The rescue ship ‘Hamza’, which reached Paturia on Wednesday, is still there. However, there were no efforts to haul out Shah Amanat.
During a visit to the scene in the morning, BIWTA Chairman Commodore Golam Sadiq said Rustam was on its way to Paturia from Shimulia for the rescue operation instead of Pratya. The vessel was expected to arrive in the afternoon.
For now, the BIWTA is insisting on rescuing the vehicles that sank with the ferry. The chairman was also open to the possibility of private rescue ships joining the efforts to remove the capsized ferry.
Loaded with 17 trucks, a car and eight motorcycles, Shah Amanat left Daulatdia in Rajbari for Paturia shortly after 9 am on Wednesday. After crossing the Padma and docking at Paturia, the vessel began to tilt. Three vehicles managed to disembark before the ferry keeled over, sending the remaining vehicles down in the river.
Of these, four freight trucks, five covered vans and a motorcycle were recovered as of Thursday. Rescuers retrieved another motorcycle on Friday, said Zillur Rahman, deputy general manager of BIWTC’s Aricha office.
Shortly after the accident on Wednesday, the terminal’s trawler operator along with workers from the BIWTC rescued a truck driver and other passengers of the ferry. No one was reported missing in the incident.
Hamza, a rescue ship of BIWTA, left Aricha for Paturia on Wednesday and joined the rescue operation. But the 80-tonne rescue ship was not equipped to deal with Shah Amanat and 250-tonne Pratya was called in as a result.
Pratya left Narayanganj around 11am on Wednesday and after travelling 50 kilometres, it anchored at Amirabat Point near Chandpur on Wednesday evening. It travelled another 40 km along the route before reaching Shimulia on Thursday night.
The ship was supposed to go to Paturia between the 14th and 15th pillars of the Padma Bridge. But instead, Rustam, which was stationed in Madaripur, was sent to Paturia around 10:30 am on Friday for various reasons, including Pratya’s slow speed and the risks of going through the Padma Bridge.
Although it usually requires a single tugboat, a second one was tied to Rustam to help it reach the scene faster.
Masudul Haque, master of the rescue ship Pratya, said he expected Rustam to reach the spot by Friday night.
“The speed of Pratya is much slower. It took a long time to come from Narayanganj to Shimulia. There are still more than 60 km left to travel. It will take a long time to reach Paturia.
“Besides, it would be risky to carry the 18.5-metre high crane on the vessel to Paturia under the Padma Bridge.”
Masudul Haque said that like Hamza, Rustam is also a 60-tonne vessel. Another rescue ship, Nirbhik, is stationed at Nirvik Barisal. The 250-tonne ship is also mounted with a crane.
