Manikganj, Feb 22 (UNB) – At least 38 people died as a launch with over a hundred passengers on board sank in the Padma River in Shibalaya upazila here on Sunday. Divers recovered 31 bodies from the river near the spot from 3 pm to 8:30pm, said Shefatul Islam, additional deputy commissioner (revenue) of Manikganj, from a control room set up at Paturia ghat. The deceased included 17 men, 12 women and nine children. The victims hailed from different areas of Rajbari and Kushtia districts. Meanwhile, local administration handed over 13 bodies to their family members. Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan visited the spot and announced that Tk 1.05 lakh would be given to each family of the deceased on behalf of the ministry. Besides, Deputy Commissioner of the district Rashida Ferdous said an amount of Tk 20,000 will be given to each family of the victims on behalf of the district administration. Earlier, local people and two firefighting units from Manikganj sadar and Ghior upazila rescued a six-month-old baby girl from inside the sunken launch and took her to Uthali Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared her dead. The rescuers also retrieved the bodies of six other people, including four women, from the sunken launch. Three of the deceased were identified as Shetu, a six-month-old baby girl and daughter of Faruk Hossain of Goalanda, Laily Begum,75, of Sreepur upazila of Magura and Imran,8, hailing from Daulatpur. The launch, ‘MV Mostafa’, sank in the mid river around 11:45am after it was hit by fertilizer-laden cargo vessel, ‘Nargis-1’, while it was heading towards Daulatdia ferry ghat from Paturia ghat, said Enamul Haque, an official at Aricha River Port. Local people rescued 30-40 of the passengers while some others managed to swim ashore. Besides, about 50 passengers of the launch could not be traced after the incident. A salvage vessel, ‘Hamza’, is on its way to the spot for joining the rescue operation, said the official. Police arrested three crew of the cargo vessel — Shahidul Islam, Shahinur Rahman and Jahurul Islam — in this connection. The master of the vessel, Iqbal Hossain, went into hiding.
