3 drown in boat capsize
At least three labourers drowned and three others went missing when an earth-laden boat sank in the Shitalakkhya in ghat-5 area of Narayanganj Port early yesterday.
In another incident, three passengers including a woman went missing after a ferry and a boat collided on the Padma on Mawa-Kawrakandi route yesterday.
The victims of the first incident were identified as Shakhawat Hossain, 27, Ariful Hossain, 20, and Aseruddin, 30, all from Patia Atamohor village under Chatmohor upazila in Pabna.
The missing labourers are Azadul, 27, Lal Mia, 35, and Alim, 27, from the same area.
All 32 labourers of the boat MV Alam were sleeping in the cabin when the accident occurred, said one of the survivors, Abdur Rakibul Mia.
He said the boat along with four others--all loaded with earth--was anchored in front of Kumudini Trust on the shore after carrying earth from Kanchpur area.
But, the boat sank all on a sudden around 5:00am. Of the total 32 labourers, 26 managed to swim ashore, he said.
Naranyanganj police and fire service of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) rushed to the spot.
Divers of the fire service recovered the three bodies around 12:30pm. They said the missing labourers might have been trapped inside the boat that went down 40 feet in the water.
Akter Hossain, officer-in-charge of Narayanganj Police Station, said the boat might have sunk because of over-loading.
Alamgir Hossain, deputy director of BIWTA Narayanganj Port, said excessive load of earth beyond the capacity and a hole in the lower part caused the boat to sink.
After the Munshiganj capsize, police rescued eight passengers, a correspondent from Munshiganj reports.
The boat carrying 14 persons including its driver started from Mawa around 8:30pm Tuesday for Majhi Kandi ghat in Shariatpur on the other side of the Padma.
The boat turned turtle when it collided with a ferry plying on the same route at Louhajong point near Itkhola, one kilometre off Mawa.
Some passengers swam ashore but Jamila Begum, 40, Nazrul Miah, 32, and Nazrul Islam Majhi went missing. All of the missing persons are from Rambhadrapur union and Bhedorganj municipality area in Shariatpur.
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