Many unidentified bodies end up in mass graves

At least 26 bodies were laid to rest in mass graves in Barguna on Saturday as the Jhalakathi launch fire victims could not be identified.

This was because the bodies were burnt badly in the deadly fire that broke out at the MV Obhijan-10, a passenger launch plying Jhalakathi’s Sugandha River early Friday.

Barguna Additional Deputy Commissioner Jalal Uddin said the bodies had been buried at a local graveyard in Barguna Sadar upazila after collecting their DNAs.

“It was not possible to identify the victims,” he said.

The Barguna-bound three-storey vessel carrying over 800 passengers from Sadarghat launch terminal in Dhaka caught fire around 3am when it was in the middle of the river.

Jhalakathi Deputy Commissioner Md Zohor Ali told The Business Post they had 38 bodies on Friday and family members of 12 victims were able to identify bodies till Saturday afternoon.

“We handed over 37 bodies to the Barguna administration as most of the passengers were residents of the district,” he said.

Of the 12 identified bodies, three were handed over to their families. Two of them were twins, Lamia and Samia, and they hailed from Khajura in Barguna Sadar. The other, Jahanara, hailed from Barguna’s Nimtoli.

Local administration and fire service officials said 40 people had so far died in the accident while over 100 had been injured. The injured were undergoing treatment at different hospitals in Barishal, Barguna, Jhalakathi, and Dhaka.

So far, 68 people remain missing – 17 in Barguna and 51 in Jhalakathi – as per the information given by their relatives to local administrations in Jhalakathi and Barguna.

“But we could not verify their claims as the list of missing has been getting longer,” said Zohor.

He said the rescue operation in search of the missing people continued on Saturday in the Sugandha River and would continue today (Sunday) too.

The rescuers did not find any more bodies on Saturday.

Case filed

Jhalakathi Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Khalilur Rahman said village policeman Jahangir Hossain had filed an unnatural death case in connection with the incident.

Probe committees visit spot

The shipping ministry on Friday formed a seven-member committee to probe the incident while Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) formed another six-member investigation team.

Both committees visited the spot where the launch was anchored and collected evidence.

Shipping ministry standing committee member Shajahan Khan also visited the scene and said the fire might have originated from the engine room after a cylinder explosion.

The shipping ministry probe committee convener, Tofayel Islam, who is a joint secretary of the ministry, visited the spot and said they had found faults in the vessel’s engine.

Many victims still critical

Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute’s Chief Coordinator Dr Samanta Lal Sen on Saturday said 15 victims were undergoing treatment at the hospital.

“I would say everyone is critical. I will not call anyone safe,” he told reporters.

“The incident took place around 3am on Friday and starting treatment took some time. It is important that victims get enough fluid. Subsequent treatment depends on several other issues,” he explained.

“Our seven-member team has gone to Barishal to treat the patients,” the doctor said.

He also said other critical patients would be sent to Dhaka, if needed, while the rest would be treated in Barishal.

BIWTA officials said Al Araf and Company in Dhaka’s Sutrapur area owns the ill-fated vessel. Four people own the company.

The vessel is 64 metres long and 10.5 metres wide, with a depth of 2.8 metres. Its capacity at night is 420 people, and 760 in the daytime.

On June 29 last year, around 33 people died when Dhaka-bound MV Morning Bird carrying at least 150 passengers from Munshiganj sank in the Buriganga River after being hit by another launch, Mayur-2, near Old Dhaka’s Shyambazar.

According to the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology’s Accident Research Institute, at least 64 accidents took place in waterways across the country till December 12 this year, killing 158 people and injuring 88 others.