Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) filed a murder case against six people, including the owner of the launch capsized in Padma River on Monday. Jahangir Bhuiyan, transport inspector of the BIWTA, filed the case with Lauhajang Thana of Munshiganj on Thursday evening. OC of the Thana confirmed the matter. AB Siddique, owner of the launch, its master driver and other staffs are the accused among the six people. Earlier, the launch- MV Pinak-6- carrying at least 250 passengers capsized in the middle of the Padma 800 yards from the Mawa Ghat (jetty) at Lauhajang upazila in Munshiganj at about 11:00 on Monday due to strong current. The double-decker launch was heading to the jetty from Kawrakandi terminal. The disaster took place two and a half months after a launch capsized in the Meghna River in Munshiganj that left at least 55 people dead.About 120 passengers are feared dead, as they remained missing till 10:00 pm on Tuesday, about 35 hours after capsize of the overloaded launch in the Padma River on Monday morning. The authorities concerned enlisted names of 121 missing people. The salvage ships, however, could not neither rescue the sunken launch, nor identified its exact location now.Meanwhile, two more bodies were recovered from Meghna River. They may be the passengers of the submerged vessel. The bodies of the unidentified persons were found floating in the river at Haimchar upazila in Chandpur. Mawa Marin Police camp Sub-Inspector Kahdakar Khalid Hossain said that heavy current washed away the bodies. Lauhajang Thana (Munshiganj) OC Tofazzel Hossin said that it had not been confirmed yet whether the bodies were from the sunken launch. Earlier on Monday, two bodies were also recovered from the Padma River.Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Munshiganj Md Saiful Hasan on Tuesday evening said, 121 passengers remained missing since the launch capsized. The local administration, however, could not confirm how many people had managed to swim ashore. But locals, who took part in the rescue operation, said 50 to 60 passengers had made it to the shore. Most of them were returning to Dhaka after celebrating the Eid-ul-Fitr at their village homes.Relatives were weeping on the bank of the river for their near and dear ones who went missing following the capsize of the launch. Hundreds of people, including family members of missing passengers, thronged the bank. They left the hope of getting their loved ones alive. In this backdrop, they want only the bodies. They also agitated on the river bank and expressed frustration over slow pace of the rescue operation. They blamed the authorities for dillydallying in the operation. They also demanded arrest of launch owner. Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said that a salvage ship,’Jarip-11′, set out from Chittagong for the spot. Two other rescue vessels — ‘Rustom’ and ‘Nirbhik’ – were conducting the rescue operation but their work was being hampered due to strong currents in the mighty river. ‘Rustom’ reached the spot from Narayanganj around 9:00 pm on Monday, about 10 hours after the accident. But ‘Nirbhik’ from Chandpur reached there following the day. It was known that the ‘Pinak-6’ was carrying three times more passengers than its capacity, as it had a capacity of 85 passengers only. Shahjahan Khan said that the launch left the Kawrakandi terminal with 150 passengers. It would have not been submerged if it could be limited with this over passengers. But the launch was boarded with more 100 passengers at Kathalbari Ghat of Shariatpur on its way to Mawa, and it sank in the river due to excess passengers. The minister said that his three nieces were in the launch and body of the one of them was recovered on Monday. Her name is Nusrat Jahan Heera. She is a student of city’s Sikder Medical College. Her two sisters are still missing. Shahjahan Khan left the hope of the rescue of her two nieces alive along with other missing passengers. It was also known that the sunken launch had been running without fitness certificate for the last three months, as the fitness certificate, which was issued last year, expired in April this year. An official of Department of Shipping said that the Pinak-6 was overcrowded with three times more passengers far beyond its capacity of 85 people. Divers from Fire Brigade and Civil Defence, Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard were conducting the rescue drive. BIWTA sources said that they were working relentlessly to salvage the launch and rescue the passengers alive or dead. A high tech machine, ‘Side-scan Sonar’, recently imported from Australia was also being used in searching the launch. But they failed to locate the sunken launch till the filing the report due to bad weather. The launch sank amid high winds in the choppy waters where the depth of the river is around 90 feet, said the divers involved in the rescue operation.Abdus Salam, Director (Finance and Administration) of Fire Service, said they were trying to locate the sunken vessel. Rescuers could not locate the launch till 9:00pm due to strong currents in the river.
