Over 1,500 vehicles stuck at Shimulia-Banglabazar ferry terminal

A rush of homebound passengers has left more than 1,500 vehicles stranded at the Shimulia-Banglabazar ferry terminal, ahead of a new lockdown scheduled to start in Bangladesh on Apr 14.

"The pressure of homebound passengers increased. More than 1,000 vehicles on the Shimulia route and over 700 vehicles on the Banglabazar route are waiting to cross the Padma River," Shafayet Ahmed, BIWTC manager at the Shimulia ferry terminal, said on Tuesday morning.

The government has been enforcing a seven-day nationwide lockdown since Apr 5 to curb the spread of the coronavirus. As it did not yield effective results, the government announced another seven-day lockdown with stricter rules, forcing many people to leave Dhaka.

As many as 14 ferries out of 16 are transporting vehicles on the route, but they are not able to bring the situation under control, Shafayet said.

“Launch services are not available on the Shimulia-Banglabazar route. More than 450 speedboats and several hundred trawlers are also transporting passengers in a crowded state.”