Death toll 24 in launch capsize

Ten more bodies were recovered from the Sandhya river yesterday, a day after a launch capsized in the river in Barisal's Banaripara upazila.

With the recoveries, the death toll from Wednesday's launch capsize is now 24, according to fire service officials and police.

The authorities recovered the launch around 8:30am yesterday and found bodies of four children inside. Six more bodies were found floating.

Bodies of Safwan, 3, Riad, 6, Rabbi, 9, Maisha, 1, Mafiya, 4, Hamida, 40, Ruhul Amin, a member of Barisal fire service, and Khukumoni, 40, were recovered yesterday. Names of two other victims could not be known.

The district administration called off the search for missing passengers yesterday.

Ziaul Ahasan, officer-in-charge of Banaripara Police Station, said the 68-member rescue team was comprised of navy, the coast guard, fire service and BIWTA officials.

According to the local administration, one more person is missing. However, locals claimed that four to five more people, who were on the boat, were traceless.

Yesterday, locals and relatives of the missing anxiously waited on the bank to receive the bodies.

At one point, they raised a hue and cry and brought out a procession demanding that the bodies of their loved ones be recovered and given to them.

Zakir Hossain, additional district magistrate of Barisal and also chief of the nine-member probe committee formed to investigate the incident, claimed that they had not received any complaint from any family that their loved ones were still missing.

Citing divers, he said there were no more bodies around the spot.

Still, some people gathered on the bank of the river claiming that they did not get the bodies of their relatives.

Siddiqur Rahman, an office assistant at a Sylhet court, lost his wife and twins Rabbi and Shanta. Only Rabbi's body was recovered yesterday.

“... We are yet to find the bodies of my sister-in-law and niece,” said Abdur Razzak, Siddiqur's brother.

Siddiqur got on the launch with his wife and children. He managed to swim ashore, but could not save them, he added.

They were looking for the bodies in the Sandhya by a boat.

Tripti, whose sister Alpana is still missing, said they were yet to get her body.

Additional District Magistrate Zakir Hossain said Oishi Plus had no route permit.

Barisal Port Officer Mustafizur Rahman said it was in fact a trawler, which was modified as a launch. It used to ply different waterways in the area illegally.

Locals said one Yusuf Hossain rented the launch from Yousuf Miah on Wednesday after Ikra, a small vessel that plied Banaripara-Uzirpur-Swarupkathi route regularly, went out of order.

The launch carrying around 50 passengers was on its way to Uzirpur from Banaripara. It was trying to anchor at Masjidbari point, which is not a designated stop, to pick up and drop off passengers.

It was raining and the current was very strong in the river. As the launch was about to anchor, a large chunk of the bank collapsed on its front part and it turned upside down instantly, said Abdul Mannan, chairman of Syedkathi union under Banaripara upazila.