Dense fog halts ferry services

Several hundred vehicles, including passenger buses, got stranded on the both sides of Paturia-Daulatdia and Paturia-Kazirhat routes yesterday as ferry services were disrupted for over eight hours due to dense fog.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) sources said the ferry services were suspended from 12:30am to 9:00am, causing a lot of trouble to thousands of travellers.
Besides, more ferries loaded with vehicles carrying goods and passengers anchored in the midstream of Padma for hours while other ferries sat out Paturia, Daulatdia and Kazirhat ghats, sources said.
Around 250 vehicles lined up at Daulatdia terminal while 400 vehicles at Paturia ghat, sources said. A line of vehicles stretching about four kilometres was seen on road to Paturia Ghat at about 5:00pm yesterday.
Ferry services resumed at about 9:00am when the fog disappeared, said Abdus Sattar, marine officer of BIWTC at Aricha sector.
A correspondent from Rajbari adds: Daulatdia BIWTC officer Arpan Kumar Chandra said six out of 10 ferries are now operational. Two ferries were sent to Narayanganj dockyard for repair about seven to eight days back and two other ferries to Paturia yard for repair.
"We have to face such suffering frequently. The crisis is mainly due to paucity of ferry," said truck driver Azahar Hossain.