A case was filed against seven people and several unknown others with the South Keraniganj police station in connection with Monday's tragic launch capsize in the Buriganga River that killed at least thirty three passengers.
Talking to the Bangladesh Post, Assistant Superintendent of River Police (Dhaka zone) Abul Kalam Azad said, they filed the case early Tuesday.
Mosaddek Hanif Soad, the owner of Mayur-2 launch, which crashed into smaller ML Morning Bird and downed it, was among the seven accused.
Sources said that the owner of Mayur-2 launch went on hiding immediately after the incident.
He said, “We are trying to arrest the accused.”
Rejaul Karim Bhuiyan, the OC of Sadarghat river police, told Bangladesh Post that Sub-Inspector Shamsul Alam filed the case against the seven under Sections 280, 304 (Ka), 437 and 34 of the Penal Code.
He added, “Six other accused named in the case were crews of Mayur-2 launch.” They were identified as Master Abul Bashar, Master Zakir Hossain, driver Shipon Hawlader, Shakil Hossain, Hridoy and Sukani Nasir Mridha. Five or six other unidentified persons were also made accused in the case.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the tragic launch capsize climbed to 34 with the latest recovery of another two bodies from the river near Shyambazar on Tuesday.
Ershad Hossain, duty officer of the Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters control room, said that a diver team of fire service retrieved the body around 12:48am.
Earlier, thirty-two bodies were recovered following the launch capsize incident in the river on Monday. The rescue operation resumed in the morning.
AKM Arif Uddin, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), said, divers of the Bangladesh Navy started the rescue operation again at 10am with 10 air bags in the river.
However, the Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge-1 over the Buriganga river was severely damaged when the rescue ship Prottoy tried to pass underneath on its way to salvage a sunken ship at Farashganj Ghat.
According to a report made by a technical team said, a girder of the bridge is completely damaged and another is severely damaged.
The technical team visited the bridge on Tuesday morning and submitted an instant report to the Roads and Highways Department.
Roads and Highways Department Dhaka zone Additional Chief Engineer Md Sabuj Uddin Khan said they have already received the report and had a meeting in this regard.
“It was decided in the meeting that traffic will remain suspended in two lanes of the four-lane bridge as girders, which have been badly damaged, are the main components of a bridge’s stability,” he informed.
Sabuj said the rescue ship hit one of the girders of Postogola Bridge between 2:00pm to 2:30pm on Monday. He further added, “I think the incident occurred due to the negligence of the captain and the drivers of the ship.”
After this incident the vehicles on the route were asked to use the second Buriganga Bridge at Babubazar as an alternative while Sabuj informed this correspondent that it would take time to repair the two girders as it is the rainy season now and the river is flooded.
On the other hand, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) called off rescue operations for the capsized ML Morning launch around 2:30pm on Tuesday.
