Turag tragedy unfolds

The son of Omar Faruk, one of the passengers of the bus that plunged into the River Turag on Sunday, breaks down seeing his father's body yesterday after two days of agonising wait. Photo: Amran Hossain And Rashed Shumon

Rescuers yesterday recovered nine more bodies from the Turag river at Amin Bazar where a bus plunged on Sunday.
They also salvaged the vehicle 54 hours after the accident.
Over 100 personnel from the army, navy, coastguard, fire brigade and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority hauled the bus out of the river at around 5:15pm and found a body inside.
Earlier in the day, eight bodies were fished out, taking the death toll to 11.
One body was found on Monday, while one of the seven passengers rescued alive minutes after the accident died later at a clinic in Savar.
The rescuers worked two cargo vessels and five tow trucks to drag the vehicle onto the riverbank near Salehpur Bazar bridge on the outskirts of the capital.
It took them 29 hours since the bus was first located under water around noon the previous day.
For a huge crowd of onlookers and a tow truck occupying the width of the Dhaka-Aricha highway, tailbacks formed on either side of the bridge.
Vehicular movement remained suspended for two hours till 6:00pm.
As the rescue operation was wrapped up at 10:30pm, the families of the missing passengers began despairing of ever finding their loved ones.
While some of them kept scouring the river by small boats, others stared blankly at the water.
Savar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rabbi Miah, however, told The Daily Star that several boats would be there to continue the search.
Eight of the nine bodies retrieved yesterday were identified to be of Omar Faruk, 50, of Savar, Ariful Islam, 20, a second-semester student of political science at Asian University, Masud Ahmed, an official of furniture maker Otobi Ltd, Khorshed Alam, a private firm employee of Savar, Mujibur Rahman, 60, a retired bank officer of Savar, Anwar Hossain, 60, of Rampura, Momin Mia, 25, a garment worker of Rampura and Prasanta Bhoumik, 55, of Malibagh in Dhaka city.
Identity of the other one, a woman, could not be known. The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue last night, said police.
Meanwhile, the authorities have yet to prepare a list of the missing persons.
UNO Rabbi could not give an approximate number of those missing. He said some bodies might have been swept far away by the strong current in the river.
Survivors of the accident say the bus was carrying at least 50 people.
Magistrate Mohammad Al Amin told The Daily Star that the rescuers began the search afresh at around 9:30am.
In three phases, they recovered eight bodies from the river seven kms downstream off the accident site.
Over loudspeakers, they urged the locals to contact them as soon as they trace a body.
Several hundred people including relatives of the victims and the missing ones lined the riverbanks. Many tried to reach the spot where the bus was stuck in a hole under water.
Victim Mujibur Rahman's son said the coastguards recovered his father's body from Basila around 2:00pm.
An air of gloom hung over the riverbanks throughout the day. Whenever the divers pulled out a body, the relatives began wailing for their dear ones.
While handing over the bodies, Magistrate Al Amin gave Tk 10,000 to each of the victims' families.