Rough weather disrupts ferry service at Padma
A woman died while around 100 fishermen went missing as a boat capsized in Noakhali, Barguna and Patuakhali due to rough weather.
The ferry services at Padma were also hampered due to rough weather, causing sufferings to hundreds of passengers on both sides of Padma.
In Noakhali, a young woman died and three people went missing when an engine-run boat capsized in a river at Musapur Closure Ghat in Companyganj upazila on Wednesday due to strong currents.
The deceased was identified as Kamrunnesa Pinky, 18, wife of Zahid of Bijoynagar village in the upazila.
Syed Fazle Rabbi, officer-in-charge of Companyganj Police Station, said some 40 people were cruising through the Choto Feni River by the boat on a pleasure trip in the afternoon.
At one stage, it sank in the river around 3pm due to strong currents, leaving three people missing.
Around 15 people managed to swim ashore while locals recovered the body of Pinky.
Divers from Chandpur and Companyganj Fire Service Station rushed in to rescue the missing people, he said, adding that they managed to salvage the sunken boat after one hour of frantic efforts.
In Barguna, over 100 fishermen with eight trawlers went missing at Kuakata while three fishing trawlers capsized Laldiar Char in Barguna district as a sudden storm hit them.
Golam Mostafa Chowdhury, president of Barguna fishing trawlers owners association, said about 30 kilometer in the south of Bay from Taltali upazila under Barguna district, three fishing trawlers capsized at Pokkhidia and Laldia area at about 2pm.
All 16 fishermen from these trawlers however survived, said Nur Jamal, a fisherman of Tetulbaria village under Taltali upazila.
All the fishermen were rescued by another trawler but the capsized trawlers went missing, he said.
Meanwhile, over 100 fishermen went missing with eight trawlers of Kuakata and Alipur areas under Kalapara upazila in Patuakhali district at the same time when they also went fishing on the Bay, Ansar Mollah, president of Alipur Aratder, said.
Maksudur Rahman, OC of Mohipur police station, however, said nobody informed him of the matter.
New Age Manikganj correspondent reported launch service on Paturia-Daulatdia, Aricha-Kazirhat and Simulia-Kawrakandi routes were disrupted due to rough weather on Wednesday.
The commuters suffered because of overcrowding of passengers on both sides of the rivers for hours.
Bangladesh Inland water Transport Authority kept suspended the launch service from at around 10am to avoid any incident, said Faridul Islam, assistant director (Traffic) of BIWTA.
The launch service on the two routes was also suspended for 36 hours from Tuesday night last, due to rough weather.
There are 35 launches on the two routes. Four of those are out of order due fitness problems. Twenty-five launches ply on Paturia-daulatdia route and six others ply on Aricha-Kazirhat route, the BIWTA sources said.
New Age Munshiganj correspondent, quoting local BIWTA officials, said that traffic movement on Simulia-Kawrakandi rout was disrupted due to rough weather as they could not run about 13 ferries.
Assistant general manager of BIWTC Khaled Newayz said they continued river transportation using only four ferries when they need about 17 ferries every day.
Traffic inspector of Mawa river police station Md Solaiman said the authorities banned movement of all the launches and sea-boats as the Padma began to soar.
Flood information centre sources said the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and Surma-Kushiyara river systems were in a falling trend while the Ganges-Padma rivers was in a rising trend.
The Brahmaputra-Jamuna river may continue to fall in the next 72 hours and Surma-Kushiyara rivers may continue to fall in the next 24 hours, while the Ganges-Padma rivers may continue to rise in the next 48 hours.
Source: New Age
