Ferry: Hopes fade

2003-07-10 10:22

Chandpur - Hopes were fading on Thursday of finding hundreds of people missing after a ferry sank in a Bangladesh river, as lashing rains and strong currents brought rescue operations to a near standstill.

Estimates by officials of the number of people missing range from 200 to 800, with the mass-circulation newspaper Ittefaq speculating up to 1 000 people might have perished in what would be one of the most deadly in a long history of ferry disasters in Bangladesh.

Three rescue vessels summoned to find survivors from the MV Nasrin-1 remained anchored and idle on the monsoon-swollen Meghna river as teams were impeded by heavy morning rains, an AFP photographer at the site said.

District civil chief Abdur Rab Hawlader acknowledged the strong currents and depth of the river were rendering the salvage efforts futile, but said teams worked through the night and hoped to try again later.

"We have strengthened the search and rescue mission early on Thursday after a night vigil by police, coastguards, naval divers and local boat operators failed to locate the sunken vessel or find any survivors or their bodies," Hawlader said.

The ferry was believed to be lying about 60m underwater near the town of Chandpur, about 43km southeast of the capital Dhaka, after being sucked under the raging currents early on Wednesday.

As Bangladeshi ferries rarely issue tickets or keep lists of passengers, it was impossible to know the exact number of victims.

The top river transport official in Dhaka, Abul Hossain Chowdhury, said the ferry had an official capacity of 429 passengers, but was "definitely overcrowded."

Chowdhury said about 200 passengers were rescued or swam to the shores. State television said late on Wednesday there were 400 passengers of whom 220 made it out safely.

Chowdhury said one survivor who was injured died in a local hospital where several others were also being treated. Television networks reported that two bodies believed to be of ferry victims were found floating downstream on the river.

Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain refused to be dragged into what he said were "wild guesses" by some media of the number of passengers on board or the missing.

Hossain said the ferry had a capacity of little more than 300 and as such the claim of 1 000 passengeres on board was "unrealistic".

The tragedy has sparked outrage in Bangladesh, where more than 3 000 people have died in about 260 ferry accidents since 1977.

Officials recalled that a ferry went down at the same site in 1994, leaving more than 150 passengers dead, and that the wreckage of the boat was never retrieved.

Initial investigations suggested the latest accident happened after one of the two engines stopped which left the vessel out of control, Chowdhury said.

It sank at the confluence of three rivers: the Meghna, Padma and Dakatia, a dangerous point for ferry operations during the monsoon.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia set up a three-member team to investigate the latest ferry accident in Bangladesh, asking for a report within a week, officials said.

After a series of ferry accidents in April, the government banned hundreds of unfit and defective ferries. But the rules were overturned after a crippling three-day protest strike by ferry operators.

The Daily Star newspaper in an editorial called for a more forceful enforcement of safety standards rather than another routine investigation.

"It is time also to make compensatory payments to families of launch accident victims mandatory. That itself could have a deterring effect," the newspaper said.

- AFX