27 killed in ferry-cargo vessel collision in B’desh
DHAKA: At least 27 people died after a ferry carrying over 100 passengers capsized after colliding with a cargo vessel in Bangladesh’s Shitalakkhya river, officials said on Monday.
The ferry sank on Sunday night after being hit by a cargo vessel in the Shitalakkhya River in Narayanganj district, just outside Dhaka, officials said.
While five bodies were recovered on Sunday, rescuers retrieved 22 bodies on Monday as a salvage vessel pulled out the vessel with the help of a huge crane around mid-day, rescue officials said.
“The salvage operation has ended,” Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) chairman commodore Golam Sadek told reporters, while live TV footage showed wailing family members and relatives of the victims crowding at the scene.
The passenger vessel, ML Sabit Al Hasan, sank after colliding with the cargo ship, SKL-3, at the mouth of the Syedpur Koyla Ghat on the Shitalakkhya River in Munshiganj.
Quoting police and onlookers, the Dhaka Tribune reported that the cargo vessel fled the scene after the collision.
A seven-member committee headed by additional district magistrate has been formed to investigate the incident, Narayanganj deputy commissioner Mostain Billah said. The district administration will give a compensation of Tk25,000 ($296) to each of the deceased’s family for the burial process, he added.
BIWTA has also formed a four-member panel to probe the mishap.
The ferry had an estimated 150 passengers. Port police officer-in-charge Deepak Chandra Saha confirmed that about 50-60 of them swam to safety, but three of them had to be rushed to the hospital.