Little hope to salvage Diganto from Meghna
High tide, overweight of sunken vessel disrupts operation
Our Correspondent, Barisal
Efforts to salvage MV Diganto from the Meghna bed continued yesterday but some high officials of BIWTA seeking anonymity said they are not optimistic about a success. Navy ship Shoibal, BIWTA salvage ships Rustom, Hamza, Kapot and Titash and 75 frogmen are engaged in the salvage operation. The frogmen earlier tied two chains to the front and back of the sunken double-decker launch. Now they are trying to tie two more chains with the vessel, BIWTA Port Officer Saiful Islam told The Daily Star yesterday when contacted over phone at Chandpur. But high tide was obstructing their operation, he said. The vessel has been located at Jahajmarar Char, about 25 kilometers north west of Chandpur. But a high official of BIWTA declining to be named aid they may be compelled to abandon the operation due to high tide and overweight of the vessel under water. The under-current speed of water close to the river bed in between nine and 13 nautical miles per hour at different times. The weight of the 125 feet vessel, filled with mud and sand, would be 180 to 220 tonnes now. BIWTA salvage vessels Rustam and Hamza have a total capacity to pull 120 to 130 tonnes. So it was beyond their capacity, he said. Lt. Emdad, Commander of BNS Shoibal and Lt. Col Rashid, leader of a special frogman team, earlier told newsmen at Chandpur that six earlier efforts by the frogmen failed due to high tide and depth of water. MV Digonto, caught in a twister, sank in the Meghna early morning on Sunday last with over 70 passengers. At last 40 of them are still missing.
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