Overloading knocked \\\'Pinak-6\\\' over

The passenger-packed launch that sank in Padma River near Munshiganj’s Louhajang Upazila on Monday was heavily overcrowded, police say quoting local people. Louhajang Police Station OC Tofazzal Hossain, local administration officials and survivors said the capacity of a double-decker launch like Pinak-6 was 120-150 passengers, but the medium-sized river craft was carrying around 350 people when it met the accident. He said the vessel was jam-packed with holidaymakers coming back to Dhaka from their respective village homes after celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr. Hossain said the launch lost balance as it was carrying passengers beyond the capacity and the river was turbulent. The lessee of Mawa sea-boat pier, Ashraf Hossain, said: ‘The river gets rough during this time (monsoon) every year. That’s why, carrying passengers beyond the capacity is risky,’ according to bdnews24.com.