Bus salvaged from Turag, death toll reaches 11
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
FE Report
Rescuers finally salvaged the sunken bus from 50 feet deep water at about 4:00pm Tuesday after 53 hours of its plunging into the Turag River, police said.
A joint rescue operation of Fire Service and Civil Defence, army, navy, coastguard, police and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority lifted the bus from the same site where it drowned two days ago.
"We pulled the bus with the help of five cranes of Fire Service and Civil Defence and Bangladesh Army," fire service director (operation) Major Sheikh Shahjalal said.
Hundreds of relatives of the missing passengers, who were waiting for long on the bank of the river, burst into tears, as only one deadbody was found inside the sunken vehicle.
They also requested the authorities not to declare the rescue operation abandoned, as most of the deadbodies were not recovered yet. Later, the district administration assured them of continuing the search for more bodies. "We'll continue the rescue operation," the senior fireman said.
Meanwhile, the horrifying wait came to an end for some families, when rescuers recovered nine more bodies from the river, taking the death toll to 11.
Six of the deceased were identified as Omar Faruk, a resident of Savar, Ariful Islam, a student of Political Science department of Asian University, Masud Ahmed, an official of Otobi Limited, Khorshed Alam, Mojibur Rahman and Anwar Hossain. The identity of three other victims could not be known immediately.
"Bodies of a man and a woman, who were the victims of the accident, were found at Mohammadpur's Bosila Ghat by local people, and were sent to the accident site at around 1.30pm," officer-in-charge of Savar police station Mahbubur Rahman said.
Rescuers finally salvaged the sunken bus from 50 feet deep water at about 4:00pm Tuesday after 53 hours of its plunging into the Turag River, police said.
A joint rescue operation of Fire Service and Civil Defence, army, navy, coastguard, police and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority lifted the bus from the same site where it drowned two days ago.
"We pulled the bus with the help of five cranes of Fire Service and Civil Defence and Bangladesh Army," fire service director (operation) Major Sheikh Shahjalal said.
Hundreds of relatives of the missing passengers, who were waiting for long on the bank of the river, burst into tears, as only one deadbody was found inside the sunken vehicle.
They also requested the authorities not to declare the rescue operation abandoned, as most of the deadbodies were not recovered yet. Later, the district administration assured them of continuing the search for more bodies. "We'll continue the rescue operation," the senior fireman said.
Meanwhile, the horrifying wait came to an end for some families, when rescuers recovered nine more bodies from the river, taking the death toll to 11.
Six of the deceased were identified as Omar Faruk, a resident of Savar, Ariful Islam, a student of Political Science department of Asian University, Masud Ahmed, an official of Otobi Limited, Khorshed Alam, Mojibur Rahman and Anwar Hossain. The identity of three other victims could not be known immediately.
"Bodies of a man and a woman, who were the victims of the accident, were found at Mohammadpur's Bosila Ghat by local people, and were sent to the accident site at around 1.30pm," officer-in-charge of Savar police station Mahbubur Rahman said.