Shajahan Khan News

Nine bodies were retrieved from a river in central Bangladesh on Wednesday, said Harun-ur Rashid, a regional police official, bringing to 79 the number of people known to have died when a ferry capsized on Sunday. The ferry, carrying 150 passengers and crew, capsized after colliding with a trawler on the river Padma. Rescuers managed to save at least 50 passengers, Harun told Reuters. Police have seized the trawler and arrested the captain and his three crew, Harun said. Twenty-seven of the bodies recovered were inside the ferry, Harun said. Another 43 bodies were pulled from the water on Sunday, more than half of them women and children, he said. Rescue attempts had now ended. A similar accident on Feb. 13 killed at least seven passengers in southern Bangladesh.

At least 70 people died when a ferry carrying 150 passengers and crew capsized after colliding with a trawler on a river in central Bangladesh, police said on Monday. Rescuers managed to save at least 50 passengers, regional police official Harun-ur Rashid told Reuters. Low-lying Bangladesh, with extensive inland waterways and slack safety standards, suffers regular ferry disasters, with death tolls sometimes running into the hundreds. More than half the bodies retrieved from the river Padma were women and children, Harun said, adding that rescue attempts had now ended. He said 27 of the bodies were recovered from inside the ferry. Another 43 bodies were pulled from the water earlier on Sunday. Police have seized the trawler and arrested the captain and his two crew, Harun said.

The Bangladesh government has decided to allow vessels to ply through the Shela River in the Sundarbans, defying the recommendations of the UN experts and environmentalists. The decision came from an inter-ministerial meeting at the shipping ministry Tuesday with Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan in the chair, apparently in the face of pressure from river transport workers. The river was made off limits to shipping after a tanker capsized in the water streaming through the Sundarbans on December 9, spilling 3.58 lakh liters of crude oil into the world's largest mangrove forest and threatening its unique biodiversity. Carrying 357,664 l of furnace oil, the tanker ‘OT Southern Star 7’ went down after being hit by another vessel on the Shela at Mrigmari in the Sundarbans Chandpai range.

Bangladeshi rescuers struggled against a strong current and choppy river waters on Tuesday in the search for a ferry that capsized with more than 200 passengers on board with about 120 of them missing, many feared dead. Low-lying Bangladesh, with extensive inland waterways and slack safety standards, has an appalling record of ferry accidents, with casualties sometimes running into the hundreds. Overcrowding is a common feature of many of the accidents, and each time the government vows to toughen regulations. The ferry that sank on Monday, the MV Pinak-6, had a capacity to carry 85 passengers, according to the inland transport authority. It went over and sank in the Padma river about 30 km (18 miles) southwest of the capital, Dhaka.

Western Marine is building two 750-passenger vessels, the first passenger ships of this capacity by a local Bangladeshi shipbuilder. The keel-laying for the ships which will be operated by BIWTC on the inland route of Dhaka to Barisal was celebrated in the shipyard located in Patiya. The Shipping Minister, Mr. Shajahan Khan (MP) was the Chief Guest in the ceremony. As Special Guests Mr. Syed Monjurul Islam, Secretary In-Charge for Shipping Ministry; and Mr. Mojibor Rahman, Chairman of BIWTC were present in the occasion. These ships will be serving the passengers in one of busiest river route in Bangladesh, Dhaka to Barisal. New building of these ships is an initiative by the government to enhance the inland waterway transportation system of Bangladesh.