2014-08-05 14:40:00

Bangladesh ferry capsizes in Padma River, 200 passengers missing


Official callousness and  obsolete vessels lead to yet another major ferry disaster claiming many innocent  lives.

More than 200 people are missing after a ferry capsized in Bangladesh's Padma River on Monday.  The boat had more than 300 people on board.

The accident occurred near Munshiganj not far from the capital Dhaka,  while crossing a river in central Bangladesh  and despite rescue efforts by naval forces and fire brigades, at least half the passengers were missing and presumed dead, officials said.  The ferry, which was making the roughly two-hour journey to the Padma River port of Mawa, was hit by high waves and capsized in the strong current.

The boat was only about 10 minutes from its destination when it capsized, said Mr. Siddique, the district intelligence officer.

Around 100 survivors have been pulled from the swollen river  and nearly 120 people are  still missing, but 24 hours after the disaster emergency workers have still not been able to locate the vessel.

Fakhrul Islam, the chief engineer of the department, said that the The ferry was the smallest of all ferries in this route and its operating license had expired in April and that it was operating in violation of safety conditions, which forbade it from carrying more than the 85-passenger maximum. It was also sailing in spite of a warning of severe weather, he said.

Such accidents are not uncommon in Bangladesh, where obsolete vessels ply the rivers and coast with excess human cargo.

On 15 May, another ferry sank in the Meghna River, near Munshiganj, killing 58 people.

In 2012, at least 150 people died when a ferry carrying about 200 people capsized at night in the river.

In 2003, an overcrowded ferry capsized in flood-swollen waters at the confluence of the Padma, Meghna and Dakatia rivers near the capital Dhaka and 400 people died.

Ferries are a common mode of transportation in this populous delta nation, and the Meghna and Padma rivers  have been the scenes of past accidents.

What could be the reason for such tragedies.  Are the authorities taking any preventive measures or are they taking the responsibility when such tragedies happen?

Bangladesh, one of Asia's poorest nations, is criss-crossed by more than 230 rivers and boats are the main form of travel, especially in the southern and northeastern regions. 
 

However many of the vessels in use date back to before independence in 1971. If one  disaster was due to overcrowding and poor ship design and maintenance, the cause of yet another one was because the ferry was apparently overcrowded and its lower deck was loaded with goods.  Officials have said more than 95 percent of Bangladesh's hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized boats do not meet minimum safety regulations  or  lifeboats.  Nor do the Bangladeshi ferries maintain passenger logbooks  and actual number of dead in an accident is only an approximate figure.

The recurring ferry disasters prove that there is no  control over unseaworthy vessels and may be no legal action is being taken against those who run the ferries so that  the number of people accommodated at each trip is controlled.


 

 








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