Wedding celebration turns into tragedy
Girl drowns; 23 including bride missing as two boats sink in the Padma
A five-year-old girl drowned and 23 other people went missing when two engine boats carrying a bridal party sank in the Padma in Rajshahi city's Sreerampur area yesterday evening.
Bride was among the missing.
Divers of Rajshahi Fire Service and Civil Defence and Border Guard Bangladesh were jointly conducting the search for the missing till filing of this report at 12:30am today.
A specialised rescue team of BIWTA was due to reach Rajshahi by 3:00am and it would join the search at dawn, said Abdur Rashid, additional director of Rajshahi fire service.
The victim, Morium, daughter of Ratan Ali of Basua area, was declared dead after being taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, said Inspector Mehedi Hassan, in-charge of river police outpost of Rajshahi.
The girl was among the 14 persons who were rescued by locals immediately after the accident took place, he said.
Five of the rescued, including groom Asaduzzaman Rumon, were hospitalised.
The two boats, carrying around 38 passengers, sank around 7:00pm shortly after three engine boats carrying the relatives of the couple started for Sreerampur ghat from Char Khanpur in Paba upazila, said police.
The boat carrying the bride and groom started to sink due to sudden strong wind in the river, sources said quoting survivors.
When the other boat went close to the sinking boat, passengers of the sinking boat jumped on that boat and it became overloaded and sank, they said.
Asaduzzaman was going to his in-law's house with his wife Sweety Khatun Nupur after a wedding reception at his home in Char Khanpur.