Staff Reporter :The death toll in the tragic Padma launch capsize rose to 70 with the recovery of 22 more bodies on Monday morning, said Galib Khan, Upazila Nirbahi Officer [UNO] of Shibalaya in Manikganj district.Of them, 27 were men, 24 women and 19 children. They hailed from Rajbari, Kushtia, Manikganj, Norail, Dhaka, Faridpur, Nilphamari and Gopalganj districts, the UNO said.The local administration has already handed 68 bodies to the family members, he said.The unidentified bodies will be sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital [DMCH] morgue, the UNO said. More than 36 passengers still remained missing although the rescue operation had been called off, sources said.The government has already paid Tk 1,25,000 compensation to each family of the victims, said Rasheda Ferdous, Deputy Commissioner of Manikganj district.Meanwhile, salvage vessel ‘Rustam’, which reached the capsize spot on Sunday night, managed to pull the sunken launch to the shore of the Padma river at Paturia Ghat in Shibalaya upazila at around 4:30am, she said.Several hundred locals and relatives of the missing victims gathered on the bank of the river Padma in Manikganj on Monday also in the hope that their relatives would comeback.DC Rasheda Ferdous told the reporters at a press briefing near the capsize spot in the morning that they had called off the rescue operation.But, the relatives of the sunken launch passengers alleged that many were still missing.However, divers from local fire service office will continue the search operation in adjacent areas of spot in the river, the DC said.”The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority [BIWTA] has already paid as Tk 1.05 lakh compensation to each family of the victims,” Rasheda Ferdous said.Earlier, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan visited the spot and announced the compensation of the money.Besides, the local administration has given an amount of Tk 20,000 to each family of the victims on behalf of the district administration, the DC said. Meanwhile, the Mercantile Marine Department under the Shipping Ministry formed a three-member probe body to investigate into the incident, they said. The committee, headed by Nur-Ur Rahman, a Joint-Secretary of the shipping ministry, has been asked to submit the report within seven days.Earlier, the ill-fated launch, MV Mostafa, sank with more than 200 passengers in the middle of Padma River in Manikganj after being hit by a fertilizer-laden cargo vessel Nargis-1 at around 11:45am on Sunday.The launch, ‘MV Mostafa’ also was heading towards Daulatdia Ferry Ghat from Paturia Ghat, said Enamul Haque, an official of the Aricha River Port.Police arrested three crew of the cargo vessel. They are Shahidul Islam, Shahinur Rahman and Jahurul Islam. The master of the vessel, Iqbal Hossain, went into hiding, sources said.
