Despair in Pabna villages as 20 still missing after boat capsize in Meghna

The families of 20 people who have been missing since their boat capsized in Meghna river at Munshiganj have fallen to despair.

A trawler carrying workers and laden with soil sank in the river at Charjhapti of Mushiganj Sadar Upazila after colliding with an oil tanker around 3am Tuesday.

Fourteen men were able to swim ashore, but the rest remain missing along with the vessel. Seventeen of the missing workers were from three neighbouring villages in Khanmorich Union of Pabna’s Bhangura Upazila. 

Of them, nine are from Mundumala village, six from Dashmorich and two from Chandipur.

“Most of the villagers in our union are very poor. Almost everybody is a day labourer. These families are now coping with the loss of their loved ones and worries for their own future,” said Khanmorich Union Parishad Chairman Asadur Rahman.  

Recounting the accident, Mamun Ali, a survivor of the accident, said that he jumped out of the trawler when it began to sink after colliding head-on with the oil tanker.

“I couldn’t see anything as it was really dark all around. We were treading cold water for over three hours. We’d have died if we stayed there for even 10 minutes longer,” said Ali.

“When the owner of our trawler found out that it didn’t reach the destination and all our cell phones were unreachable, he sensed something was amiss and dispatched another trawler to see what happened.  Thankfully it came to our rescue.”

“It’s been hard identifying the place where the trawler sank because it was really foggy when the accident happened,” said Munshiganj Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Farook Ahmed.

“The police, coastguard and fire service are trying to pinpoint the location and recover the trawler with the help of the survivors,” he said.

“The 20 missing workers were sleeping inside the cabin. The survivors were able to give us the identities of 18 missing workers but we still don’t know where they are.”