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Ferry disaster: Hundreds feared dead
09/07/2003 17:43 - (SA)
Chandpur - Hundreds of people are missing and feared dead after an overcrowded ferry capsized in a southeastern Bangladesh river, CNN reported on Wednesday.
The MV Nasrin-1 was heading from Dhaka to coastal Bhola town when it sank in the Meghna river near Chandpur town shortly before midnight Tuesday, said Dhaka's top river transport official, Abul Hossain Chowdhury.
He said the ferry had an official capacity of 429 passengers, but was "definitely overcrowded".
He did not know exactly how many were on board, but said more than 200 people had been rescued.
"One of the injured survivors died early Wednesday in a hospital in Chandpur where several others were under treatment," Chowdhury said.
There was confusion over the number of missing, with state-run Bangladesh Television saying there could have been 800 people on board and only 150 had been rescued.
It is likely that the exact number of passengers on board will never be known as ferries here rarely have passenger lists or issue tickets.
As news of the accident spread, hundreds of relatives of the missing passengers crowded the main terminal in Chandpur.
Some hired local boats and sailed to the site, more than a kilometre from the terminal searching for survivors or bodies.
The ferry was believed to be lying about 60m underwater in the river, about 43km southeast of the capital Dhaka.
An official at the district police operation centre in Chandpur said that an extensive search was on to find it.
Witnesses said a rescue vessel, the MV Rushtam, reached the site but was unable to work because of strong currents and tides.
Officials shuttling to the site by speedboat said they were waiting for another rescue vessel, the MV Hamza (eds: correct), but admitted there was little chance of finding any more survivors or even locating the vessel.
Defence ministry spokesperson Nazrul Islam said in Dhaka that a naval rescue ship, the BNS Barkat, was on its way to Chandpur and its trained divers would join search and rescue operation by Wednesday evening.
Government ministers Hafiz Uddin Ahmed and Mosharraf Hossain Shahjan, both from the southern coastal area where the ferry was heading, toured the area by speedboat and were supervising rescue work.
Initial investigations suggested the 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.
Official sources said the confluence was known to be particularly dangerous in the monsoon season because of powerful tides and all ferries had instructions to bypass the route.
In 1994, the ferry MV Dinar went down at the same site leaving more than 150 passengers dead, river officials said, adding that despite a week-long intensive search that ferry could not be located and was abandoned.
Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, which is criss-crossed by about 230 rivers. They are blamed mainly on overcrowding, faulty design or operators who ignore storm warnings.
In April this year Bangladesh was hit by several river tragedies, including two sinkings in one day which killed at least 181 people. One of them was near Dhaka and the other in the northern Kishoreganj district.
The government immediately enforced a ban on the operation of hundreds of unfit and defective ferries, but it was overturned after a three-day crippling protest strike by ferry operators.
Since 1977, about 260 ferry accidents have claimed the lives of more than 3 000 people.
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