At least 10 people went missing after a trawler capsized in the Dhaleshwari river off the coast of Narayanganj’s Sadar upazila following a collision with a launch on Wednesday. Fire service has initially identified the launch — MV Farhan 6 — which hit a motorboat carrying passengers. Two units of fire service have rushed to the spot and carried out rescue operations. Around 50 people were on board when the accident took place and most of them could swim to ashore. Earlier on 24 December, 38 people died in a deadly fire swept through a launch on the Sugandha River in Jhalakathi. BIWTA formed a six-member committee to probe the incident. Like this, every time the department concerned orders inquiry, often by those officials who are directly or indirectly responsible for the incident; gets a report, shifts the responsibility onto others as usual, and shelves it. With the passage of time, the public forgets the incident until the next one occurs and the authorities concerned also get away from public accountability for their responsibilities if any.
It is high time somebody did something to put a halt to these unending miseries. Worldwide, river transport is considered to be the safest mode of transport. No wonder one gets confused when one sees the opposite scenario here. The main causes of launch disasters in our country leading to such colossal loss of life and property have been identified and highlighted by different quarters many a time. These are: faulty design, structural weakness, lack of adequate safety measures, lack of adequate supervision by a competent authority during the construction period, absence of the qualified crew, weakness in inspection procedures, obtaining of fitness certificate through unfair means, overloading, disregard to the weather forecast, and negligence in duties by the ship’s crew.
The instant sinking of the vessel was because of its faulty design and structural failure of its hull. It was broad daylight. The weather was fine. The river was calm. Even if the vessel had collided with the other for one reason or another, it would not have sunk instantly if it was built in accordance with the standard shipbuilding practice. Even if it had sunk, the loss of life would have been minimal had the vessel complied with standard safety requirements.
