Buriganga capsize: committee recommends measures to stop launch disasters

A shipping ministry probe committee looking into the fatal launch capsize incident on the Buriganga River has produced a 20-point recommendation to prevent recurrence of such disasters after identifying nine reasons behind the tragedy.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury announced the development during a press conference at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

A seven-strong committee was formed with shipping ministry Joint Secretary (development) Md Rafiqul Islam Khan at the helm of the committee and BIWTA Director Md Rafiqul Islam as its member secretary.

The recommendations included instruction on vessel berthing, relocating piers for small boats, ensuring seamless communication through wireless voice transmitters, making voice declarations mandatory, setting speed limits for vessels, removing older launches, replacing mechanical steering with electro hydraulic steering, not selling more tickets than vessel capacity and revising naval laws.

However, the state minister did not disclose anything about the cause of the accident and those held responsible in the report.

Mohammad Mezbah Uddin, the secretary to the shipping ministry, said, “Those responsible for the incident will be identified in the investigation.”

The ill-fated launch, Morning Bird, overturned after being hit by Moyur-2 near Shyambazar on the morning of Jun 29.

More than 50 passengers from Munshiganj swam ashore and the others were trapped while 34 more were reported dead after a search that lasted two days.

The naval police had started a case against seven people, including the owner and the launch master, over charges of negligent death.

After watching CCTV camera footage, State Minister Khalid had earlier said that the incident appeared to be a ‘planned’ case of ‘murder’ to him.

“…If I watched the footage now, I’ll again say that it was murder. Since a case has been filed alleging death due to negligence, it will come under Section 302 (murder case) if proven by the investigation,” he said, and added that the recommendations would be implemented in phases.