Launch with 150 passengers aboard capsizes in Buriganga

---

At least 33 people drowned as a launch with around 150 passengers capsized in the Buriganga river near the city Thursday in a fatal ferry accident, reports UNB.
Witnesses and official sources said divers so far retrieved 30 bodies from the sunken launch, MV Sourav-1, which sank near the Buriganga First Bridge at Postagola in the capital at 3:15 pm following a collision with a trawler.
Some 40 other passengers were feared missing when the latest report came in the UNB newsroom at 7:30pm. The sunken launch, lying about 15 feet under the water, could not yet be salvaged.
Survivors said the Munshiganj-bound launch from Dhaka, carrying about 150 passengers, capsized after hitting a sand-laden trawler.
Home and Shipping Adviser Maj General (retd) MA Matin and senior officials rushed to the spot at 6:45pm and were supervising the rescue operation.
Officials said salvage ship MV Rustam, steamed from Narayanganj, was expected to reach the spot shortly to pull up the sunken launch.
Keraniganj police held the sand-laden trawler Al Amin/Ibrahim that rammed the launch down. The driver and crew of the trawler managed to flee.
A five-member inquiry team headed by the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dhaka was formed to probe the cause of the accident.
The victims were mostly children and women. The bodies were rescued by the divers of Fire Brigade and Navy, a unit of which was stationed at the foot of the bridge.
Sixteen of the deceased were identified as Farhad (8), Minaki (30), Jonaki (5), Muhuni (3), Joynob Bibi (45), Anwara (55), Ranjit Ghose (50), Beauty (25), Sohana( 2), Arafat (5), Nayan (25), Lipi (15), Anwara (35), Sajeda (50), Zarina (60), and Minaki (14).
They hailed from Munshiganj, Mukterpur, Fatullah, Srinagar and South Keraniganj, the survivors said.
Meanwhile, in separate statements, President Iajuddin Ahmed and Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed Thursday expressed deep sorrows at the death of the passengers and sympathy for bereaved families.
They had instructed the authorities concerned to ensure proper treatment for those injured in the disaster.