Launches stuck on sandbars for 6 hrs with 2000 passengers
Two launches of Patuakhali-Dhaka route remained stuck on a underwater shoal of Karkhana River under Bakerganj Upazila of Barishal district causing immense sufferings to around 2,000 passengers on board.
The four-storey Dhaka-bound MV Sundarban-9 and three-storey MV Jamal Khan-5 started journey from Patuakhali Launch Terminal at 6 pm on Friday night and got stuck after one hour with around 2000 passengers, said Yunus Husain, launch supervisor of Sundarban-9.
However both of the launches reached their final destination, Dhaka, safely after delaying about 6 hours on Saturday morning, launch sources added.
MV Jamal Khan-5 with some 900 passengers and MV Sundarban-9 with more than one thousand passengers on board stuck on sandbars, said Ajmal Huda Mithu, deputy director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), Barishal station.
BIWTC official claimed that the vessels got stuck on under water shoal as the captains failed to follow route safety-markings of the river in a foggy weather.
The launch was plying slowly in foggy weather but stuck on the sandbars due to poor navigability of the river, admitted Saidur Rahman Rintu owner of the Sundarban fleet and vice president of the Launch Owners’ Association.
Yunus Hossain, supervisor of Sundarban-9 vessel, said navigation problem increased on this route as the BIWTC authority failed to do regular dredging of the river to maintain safe navigability, specially, in dry winter season.
Sultana Begum, a passenger of MV Sundarban-9, blamed the launch was not plying carefully in foggy weather.
