Up to 800 possibly dead

2003-07-10 19:30

Chandpur, Bangladesh - 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 ranged 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.

The known death toll from the tragedy rose to nine after the recovery of six more bodies which were floating in the Meghna river a few kilometres away from the accident site, officials said.

Two other bodies had earlier been found floating downstream, according to television networks, while an official in Dhaka said an injured survivor had died in a local hospital where several others were being treated.

Three rescue vessels summoned to find survivors from the MV Nasrin-1 remained anchored on the monsoon-swollen river on Thursday after teams were impeded by heavy morning rains, a photographer at the site said.

Agonising wait

The snail-like rescue effort infuriated thousands of relatives of the missing, who crowded into the ferry terminal and on neighbouring river banks. Some had escaped the sinking ferry only to endure an agonising wait for news of their loved ones.

The sobbing by family members grew louder as the day went on, while the chances of finding survivors looked increasingly remote.

"Authorities failed even to salvage the ferry or retrieve trapped victims. This is disgusting," said 35-year-old Mohammad Ali, whose mother and two younger brothers are missing.

Ali, a day labourer, was heading home on the ferry to Lalmohan in the Bhola district when he felt a big jerk early on Wednesday and the boat began to sink.

When he came to his senses he found himself in the hospital and he frantically sought news of his mother and brothers.

"I can't even see their bodies," Ali lamented.

Rina, a 35-year-old housewife, was in a group of 18 people heading from the capital Dhaka to a country home in Lalmohan to attend her sister's wedding. She and a cousin were rescued from the raging river and were at the ferry terminal waiting for news of their 16 companions.

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

The ferry was believed to be lying about 60m underwater near the town of Chandpur, near Dhaka.

No list of passengers

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 shore. State television said late on Wednesday there were 400 passengers, of whom 220 survived.

Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain refused to be dragged into what he said were "wild guesses" by some media of the number of passengers onboard or missing. Hossain said the ferry had a capacity of little more than 300 and as such the claim of 1 000 passengers onboard was "unrealistic".

Outrage

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

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

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

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

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia set up a three-member team to investigate the latest accident, 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.

- AFX