Year after year, nobody can stop overloading
“When I saw my launch, the scene did not come as a relief.”
This is what Ahasanul Kabir Shaon felt arriving 15 minutes past his departure time at the capital's Sadarghat Launch Terminal while travelling to his village home last Eid.
“The vessel was overcrowded with passengers and there was hardly any space on it,” said the university student.
Among the information regarding the vessel written at the entrance was that its carrying capacity was around 900. But it seemed around 3,000 passengers were on board, he told The Daily Star.
“As I had no other alternative, I had to continue my journey. But I was fearful of an accident all throughout the way,” Shaon recalled.
Thousands experience this when travelling to southern districts in the Eid rush risking their lives every year.
Almost all launch operators carry around three times their capacity during the Eid rush, posing the risk of dreadful accidents, said passengers and experts.
Government steps towards waterways safety largely remain on paper. Ahead of Eid every year, government officials, launch owners and workers hold meetings on smooth traffic management and passenger safety.
They decide to check overloading, travelling on rooftops and boarding mid-river and ensuring a sufficient number of lifebuoys and other safety equipment.
But none of these are properly implemented due to an apparent profit-mongering mindset of launch owners and neglect by government authorities concerned.
Traffic inspectors of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) are responsible for checking overloading.
But they turn a blind eye during the Eid rush, said Ashish Kumar Dye, general secretary of the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR).
Pinak-6 was coming from Kewrakandi of Madaripur when it sank in the Padma river at Mawa in Munshiganj on August 4, 2014. At least 48 passengers died and 62 others went missing. It was carrying over 200 passengers, though its capacity was 85.
Overloaded MV Coco-4 sank in the Tentulia river near the Nazirpur launch terminal in Lalmohan of Bhola on November 27, 2009 with around 2,000 holidaymakers. At least 56 bodies were found while many others were unaccounted for.
Around 326 people died every year on an average in waterway accidents in the two decades since 1994, according to NCPSRR, a non-government body working for passenger safety.
However, the rate of accidents and death toll has sharply declined in the last two years when around 50 passengers died annually, it adds.
A lack of lifebuoys and other safety equipment like fire extinguishers and oxygen cylinders also increase the death toll, say experts.
Rules say the lifebuoy to passenger ratio should be 1:4 but in most cases it is found to be 1:10, said several officials of the Department of Shipping.
The government has banned carrying passengers on rooftops but almost no owner follows it as hundreds of passengers are seen travelling in this manner ahead of Eid.
Such overloading may also cause accidents, said Capt Habibur Rahman, a former officer of Mercantile Marine Department.
Talking to The Daily Star on September 1, BIWTA acting chairman Bholanath Dey said they had already warned the launch owners of stern action for overloading.
“Besides, we have also asked them to keep a sufficient number of lifebuoys and other safety equipment on each launch,” he said.
Badiuzzaman Badal, senior vice-chairman of Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger carriers) Association, said launch owners on many occasions have to overload due to excessive rush.
“We have a sufficient number of launches this year. So, there is no possibility of overloading,” he claimed.
He also claimed that a sufficient number of lifebuoys and other safety equipment have been kept ready at every launch.
Around 15 lakh people leave the capital through Sadarghat during the Eid holidays, according to transport workers and rights activities.