Padma capsize: 10 bodies found

Ten bodies of the victims of an Eid Day boat capsize have been fished out of the Padma River at Kushtia's Daulatpur Upazila.

Kushtia Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 31 July 2014, 05:09 AM
Updated : 31 July 2014, 05:09 AM

Two more are still missing while rescue efforts continued until Thursday evening.

The motorised fishing boat was carrying at least 19 Eid holidaymakers to an island from Bairagir Char when it overturned in the strong currents and rough winds on Tuesday afternoon.

Locals rescued seven people shortly after the boat sank but the other passengers went missing in the rough tides.

Divers of the Fire Service and Civil Defence had joined the rescue efforts later on.

Kushtia district's Deputy Commissioner Syed Belal Hossain said apart from recovering 10 bodies until Thursday afternoon, families of the deceased have been given Tk 20,000 each as funeral costs.

Deaths of this many people at once have left the relatives lamenting on the banks of Padma.

Families of 'Tinni', 6, and 'Keyamoni', 8, who were still unaccounted for and whose mother died in the capsize, were waiting on the river banks.
But grief has struck hard the families who have received the bodies of their loved ones.
Most of the passengers hail from the Upazila's Farakpur and Bairagir Char villages.
Nearly 26 hours after the boat sank, the body of Mala Akhter Poly, 25, was found on Wednesday evening in the Gorai River, a tributary of the Padma.
Police retrieved nine bodies floating on the Padma and Gorai since early hours of Thursday, two days after the capsize.
They have been identified as Rajshahi Paramedical Institute's final year student 'Bibha', 22, 'Shahajul', 28, 'Swapan', 20, 'Shipon', 26, 'Imran', 20, sisters 'Bithi', 10, and 'Subarna', 6, 'Kalu', 12, and 'Shikha', 18.
The district administration has already handed over the bodies to their families.
Kushtia-1 MP Rezaul Haque Chowdhury, DC Belal Hossain and ASP Sohel Reza had supervised the day-long rescue efforts.
Daulatpur police on Wednesday detained the boatman, 'Sentu', who was rescued by the locals after the boat went down.
Kazi Nadir Hossain, leader of the eight-strong diver team from Khulna, said they could not trace the boat until Thursday.
District administration officials said four of those who had been saved were admitted at the Daulatpur Upazila Health Complex.