Fire service divers have recovered the bodies of five people, including a woman and four children, till 6pm on Saturday after six people went missing due to an engine-driven boat sank under the pressure of two sand-filled bulk heads in the Aminbazar area of Turag River in Savar. The rescue operation was suspended due to lack of light as two more people were missing. The fire service said it would work to rescue the two missing from Sunday morning.
Earlier on Saturday morning at around 5:30 am, a motor boat driven on the Turag River in Aminbazar, Savar, reached the middle of the river from Keblar Char to Gabtali’s Dwipanagar. At that time, some children reached the shore by swimming from the trawler but 5 children and two women went missing.
The missing are mainly residents of Sylhet and Sunamganj. They usually come to this area to join the coal work. All of them used to live in Baradeshi village of Aminbazar union.
Chamak Jan of Baradeshi area of Aminbazar lost her two daughters and three grandchildren in the boat sinking. Her daughters are Swala (20), Rupaina (24) and 3 grandchildren are Jasmine (2), Arman (5) and Imran (4). The girls of Chamak Jan used to work as coal loading and unloading workers by the river.
Moni Sharma, deputy director of the Dhaka division of the fire service, said the bodies of four missing children and one woman had been recovered. Their detailed identities were not found. Rescue operations will also be conducted on Sunday to rescue the rest. Several teams of the fire service including the navy have worked to rescue the missing.
Khandaker Faridul Islam Fariduzzaman Farid, senior superintendent of police of the Dhaka Divisional Naval Police, said a murder case would be filed by the Naval Police in the event of the trawler sinking. The recovered body will be identified and handed over to the family.
BIWTA has formed a three-member committee headed by Joint Director Fazlur Rahman to investigate the sinking of the engine-driven boat due to the collision of two bulkheads. BIWTA Joint Director Fazlur Rahman, who heads the investigation committee, said no body was found in the rescued trawler. Aminbazar Naval Police will file a murder case as a plaintiff.
