Dozens still missing after massive ferry blaze kills 39 in Bangladesh

Agencies | Dhaka

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Rescue workers are still searching for dozens of people who are missing after a fire broke out on a crowded ferry in southern Bangladesh killing at least 39 passengers, officials said on Sunday.

The ferry, MV Obhijan-10, was carrying nearly 800 people on Friday as it travelled along the Sugandha river in the Jhalakathi district, nearly 150 kilometres southwest of Dhaka.  

“We have prepared a list of 29 passengers still missing based on reports from relatives,” the chief of the district administration Zohar Ali told dpa. Fire Service and Civil Defence department workers who are searching for people did not find anyone on Sunday, he said to Deutsche press agency (dpa).

“We are not quite sure whether they are alive,” he said.

The local administration buried 23 bodies after collecting DNA samples, as they could not be immediately recognized by relatives, he said, adding that the other bodies had been handed to relatives.

Images on television showed several hundred people on the river bank, waiting for news of those still missing.

Poor safety standards and broken fire-fighting equipment led to higher casualties in the blaze, according to an official investigating the accident.

“The fire safety management was nearly inoperative, and those who were in charge of the operation could not manage it,” Lieutenant Colonel Zillur Rahman of the Fire Service and Civil Defence said, based on preliminary investigations.

It would have been easier to fight the flames with a working pump and hosepipe system, he said. He was not able to say what had caused the fire.

“We hope we’ll be able to conclude the investigation in two weeks time,” Rahman said.

Bangladesh’s shipping directorate filed a case with the marine court against eight people, including four owners and captains of the ferry on Sunday. They are accused of flouting the safety regulations and could face a five year prison term if found guilty.

Deaths in ferry accidents are frequent in Bangladesh, a country of many rivers, due to the lax implementation of regulations.