As rescuers continued to search for the missing or dead from the launch fire in Sugandha River on the third day Sunday the authorities could not determine the exact number of people still unaccounted for.
Until filing the report at 6 pm no new bodies were recovered from the river nor any missing passenger found as anxious families kept waiting for their loved ones at Municipal Mini Park and on the bank of the river, reports UNB.
The Jhalakathi unit of the Red Crescent Society has collected a list of 51 people missing from the information provided by their family members, said Imran, a volunteer from the organisation.
Meanwhile, the police control room set up at the launch terminal reported getting information of 47 missing passengers so far, said Md Salauddin, Sub-Inspector of Jhalakathi Sadar police station.
The divers from the local fire service and Coast Guard resumed the search operation on Sunday morning and it was suspended for the day in the evening, said Khalulur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station in Jhalakathi district.
Meanwhile, probe bodies formed by the Ministry of Shipping, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the district administration continued their investigation on Friday’s tragedy on MV Avijan-10 on its journey from Dhaka to Barguna.
While visiting the spot Baharul Amin, director of the Barishal BIWTA and head of the six-member probe body said, “There was not enough arrangement in the launch to extinguish the fire.” He said most of the launches on the Dhaka-Barishal route are luxurious but don’t have enough safety measures in the engine rooms.
“If the launch was immediately moved to the shore after the fire broke out most of the lives lost could have been saved but the navigator did not do it,” said Lieutenant Colonel Zillur Rahman, director of Jhalakathi Fire Service and Civil Defence.
Earlier, joint secretary of the shipping ministry Tofayel Hossain and convener of the seven-member probe body formed by the government said they suspect the fire originated in the engine room of the launch.
He said, “We are investigating the Jhalakathi launch fire incident closely and we have visited the launch several times. Primarily, we suspect that the fire erupted from the engine room and then spread across it for other reasons.”
Earlier, in the day, a case was filed with Barguna Chief Judicial Magistrate Court against the owner of MV Avijan-10 Hamjalal Sheikh and 24 others in connection with the deadly fire in the launch that left 41 people dead and many more injured and missing.
The blaze broke out at 3 am on Friday on the Barguna-bound launch carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka and it engulfed the entire vessel within 10 minutes.
The death toll from the fire incident climbed to 41 on Saturday night. Besides, over 70 people suffered injuries and many of them are undergoing treatment at different hospitals.
