Salvage operation continues for fourth day

Salvage vessel Rustom on Saturday joined the operation to rescue the ferry that sank at Paturia terminal with 21 vehicles on Wednesday.

The salvage operation resumed at 8 am while Rustom reached the spot at 9am.

Rustom is now keeping the sunken covered vans and trucks rescued earlier on the river bank while Hamza is trying to salvage another sunken covered van.

So far, five trucks, seven covered vans and three motorcycles have been recovered.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) joint director and in-charge of the rescue operation Fazlur Rahman said another sunken covered van has been detected and they are trying to retrieve it from water.

“When all the vehicles will be recovered we will start operation to salvage the sunken ferry. We will take alternative plan it the ferry could not be rescued with Hamza and Rustom,” he said.

The process to handover the retrieved vehicles to the owners has started and some of the owners held a human chain at 12 pm on the river bank seeking compensation from the government.

A 3-km tailback has been created at Paturia terminal due to movement of a limited number of ferries.

The two probe committees formed by the Ministry of Shipping and Manikganj district administration visited the accident spot at Paturia terminal-5 on Thursday evening.

Head of the district probe committee, additional magistrate Sanwarul Haque said that “a report will be submitted within seven working days”.

Around 9.30am on October 27, the ferry -- Amanat Shah -- capsized near Paturia’s number five ferry terminal with 14 trucks, vans and seven motorcycles on board.

The vessel tilted after water gushed in through a crack in its bottom while it was preparing to anchor at the dock.