Ferry service resumes on Paturia-Daulatdia, Aricha-Kazirhat routes as fog dissolves

Ferry service on the routes along the Padma River from Manikganj's Paturia to Rajbari’s Daulatdia and from Aricha to Pabna's Kazirhathas resumed after it was halted due to dense fog.

The ferry service was halted on Paturia-Daulatdiaroute for 9 hours and Aricha-Kazirhat route for 11 hours.

The fog began to thicken from 11pm on Saturday over the river, said Assistant Manager Abdus Salam of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation's Paturia office.

At one point, the visibility dropped at the marking point of the channel and the authorities stopped ferry service at 1am on Paturia-Daulatdia route, he said.

Two ferries called BS Jahangir and Baigar, had to stop in the middle of the river.

As the fog dissolved on Sunday morning improving the visibility, ferry service resumed on Daulatdia route at 10:30am, said Md Salahuddin, manager of the BIWTC's Daulatdia terminal.

However, ferry service resumed at 11:40am from Manikganj's Paturia end of the route, said BIWTC Assistant Manager Abdus Salam.

On the other hand, ferry service was halted on Aricha-Kazirhat route at 11:40pm on Saturday due to thick fog, said BIWTC Deputy General Manager Nasir Mohammed Chowdhury.

Khan Jahan Ali, a ferry carrying vehicles and passengers, was stuck in the middle of the river when the service was halted, he said.

Later, the ferry service resumed at 10:40am on Sunday after the fog was gone, he said.

More than a hundred vehicles were waiting to cross the river at the jetty when the ferry service was halted, said Md Salahuddin, manager of the BIWTC's Daulatdia terminal.

Md Al Amin, a passenger of Rabeya Paribahan, was travelling to Dhaka.

"I have a flight to catch at 1pm. I started for Dhaka in the morning but got stuck at the jetty here. I don't know when can I resume my journey. It seems that I'll reach the airport in the evening," Al Amin told the bdnews24.com reporter at 10am in Daulatdia jetty.

“I came to Daulatdia jetty at 1am and found that there was no ferry service. Since then I have been sitting inside the bus and couldn’t sleep for the entire night. passengers too, have suffered,” said Akash, driver of a bus coming from Jashore's Paikgachha.

Md Masud, a passenger of Shamim Enterprise Paribahan coming from Barishal, said he could not sleep throughout the night.

“I can’t explain to you how tough that was,” he said.

“Those having women and children travelling with them suffered more.”

The vehicles are getting on board the ferries maintaining their serial after the ferry service resumed, said Md Salahuddin, manager at BIWTC Daulatdia jetty.