POBNEWS24,Dhaka Oct 28, 2021:The ferry was tilted after leaving the wharf. As soon as it reaches the middle Padma, the water starts rising. Before reaching Paturia Ghat, the water in the ferry rose and drowned. Eyewitness Sushant Rajbangshi is the driver of a covered van. His car was also in that ferry. Sushant jumped into the river just before the ferry sank. He later swam ashore.
The ro-ro (big) ferry Amanat Shah, which left from Daulatdia in Rajbari on Wednesday morning, came to Paturia Ghat in Manikganj and sank along with its vehicles. At that time the ferry had 16 cargo trucks and covered vans and 18 motorcycles. Witnesses said there were hundreds of people on the ferry. No casualties were reported in the accident. The rescue operation was declared over at 8.15 pm last night. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) said the rescue operation would resume on Thursday.
This is the first big ferry sinking in the country. The ferry was over 40 years old. The ferry expired a year ago. But a BIWTC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ferry was kept at risk due to the risk of crossing the road.
Speaking to eyewitnesses and ghat-related people on the spot, it is learned that Amanat Shah left Ghat No. 5 of Daulatdia at around 9 am yesterday. As soon as we reached the middle, the water started rising from the left side of the front of the ferry. As soon as the sheep arrived at the pontoon of Paturia Ghat No. 5 in Manikganj at around 10.45 am, three trucks carrying goods on the ferry got down quickly. At that time, when another truck went down, the ferry tilted to one side and the truck also fell into the river. Soon after, the ferry with other vehicles sank in the Padma near the pontoon. Upon receiving the news of the accident, the BIWTA rescue ship Hamza reached the spot around 11:30 pm. Then the rescue operation started. At the same time, a team of fire service divers from Manikganj started searching. After that, along with the local district administration and police administration, divers from the fire service, navy and coast guard came from Dhaka and started the rescue operation.
Multiple eyewitnesses said that the driver and passengers of the vehicle along with the staff started shouting when they saw the water rising in the ferry. Later the master of the ferry increased the speed of the engine. In a short time, the ferry reached the 5th wharf of Paturia. The rope of the ferry was lowered before the rope was tied to the pontoon. At this time three trucks got off the ferry. The ferry tilted after another truck was halfway down. At this time the truck fell into the river from the pontoon. At the same time, the cargo vehicles on the ferry jumped on top of each other. At one point, trucks and motorcycles fell into the river.
President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Shipping and former Minister of Shipping came to visit the accident site at noon. Shahjahan Khan, BIWTC Chairman Syed Tajul Islam, BIWTA Acting Chairman. Nurul Alam and others. Earlier, Manikganj Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Abdul Latif, Superintendent of Police Mohammad Golam Azad Khan, Faridpur Region Superintendent of Police Md. Members of the law enforcement forces including Jasim Uddin.
The rescue ship Hamza rescued two cargo trucks by evening. In addition, the fire service divers rescued a motorcycle from the river. However, no casualties have been reported so far. The rescue operation was declared over at 8.15 pm last night. BIWTC member (planning and management) said the rescue operation will be resumed this morning. Delwar Hossain informed.
Crossing on expired ferries
The sunken Amanat Shah ferry is quite old. The ferry, imported in the eighties, expired a year ago.
An official from BIWTC’s Marine Division, who did not want to be named, said the ferry expired a year ago. After repairing the bottom of the ferry from Narayanganj Dockyard in July this year, Paturia-Daulatdia was added to the fleet. Being over 40 years old, the ferry became unusable. However, the ferry was kept open to deal with the crisis at the vehicle crossing. The official said that several expired ferries are still engaged in crossing the waterway.
Shariful Islam, master of the sunken ferry Amanat Shah, said that after leaving Daulatdia Ghat for Paturia with 16 cargo vehicles and 16 motorcycles, the bottom of the ferry leaked and water entered the ferry. As long as he understood the matter, there was nothing more to do.
Committee of Inquiry
BIWTC chairman Syed Tajul Islam, who visited the spot at noon, expressed regret over the reporters’ question and said the cause of the accident would be investigated.
At the time, Shahjahan Khan, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee of the shipping ministry, said the ferry was very old. The ministry has formed a committee to investigate the incident. The exact cause of the accident will be known after receiving the report of the investigation committee.
So far two separate committees have been formed to investigate the incident. The Ministry of Shipping has set up a high-powered committee and the Manikganj district administration has set up another inquiry committee. The ministry has formed a seven-member committee headed by an additional secretary of the shipping ministry. Besides, the district administration formed a four-member committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner (Overall) Sanwarul Haque.
‘Suffix’ coming to rescue ferry
BIWTA’s rescue ship Hamza does not have the capacity to rescue the sunken ferry, the people concerned said. Hamza Commander Master SM Chanowar Hossain said the rescue ship had a capacity of 60 tonnes. And the weight of the sinking ferry Amanat Shah is about one thousand tons. It is not possible to rescue the sunken ferry with Hamza. That is why a powerful rescue ship named Pratya is coming to Paturia from Narayanganj.
BIWTC Aricha Office Deputy General Manager (Commerce) said. Zillur Rahman said this was the first ro-ro ferry sinking in the history of the country. Earlier, a small ferry sank. However, he could not give information about when and where it happened. The official admitted that some of the 19 ferries plying the Daulatdia-Paturia waterway were quite old. The exact cause of the sinking is unknown. There has been a committee of inquiry. The committee’s report can confirm the cause of the sinking.
