Sunken ferry had no mechanical fault: BIWTC
The ferry "Rajnigandha", which sank in Padma River near Manikganj's Paturia early on Wednesday (17 January) amid heavy fog, had no mechanical fault, said Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) Executive Engineer (Paturia Ferry Service Unit) Md Rubeluzzaman.
"We can say for sure that there was no mechanical fault in the ferry. What caused the incident can be said after investigation," he told The Business Standard (TBS).
He said "Rajnigandha" is one of the 16 small and big ferries plying on the Paturia-Daulatdia route. It was built in 2014 and had a carrying capacity of 9 trucks, weighing 250 tonnes.
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The official also said that the ferry's docking schedule (checkup schedule) was next April.
Prior to this, the ferry's docking schedule was last completed in November 2020.
However, even though there was no mechanical fault, the official could not say for sure whether the ferry was overloaded when it sank.
Md Rubeluzzaman said, "The loading section will be able to tell about the weight issues. We only deal with technical issues."
This official said that each ferry has a total of 15 staff including a master, driver and steersman.
"None of the ferries that are running have gone past their serving period. Currently, the oldest ferry is approximately 36 years old which is a RoRo category ferry; that ferry named 'Shahjalal' has already been sent to Narayanganj for sale," he added.
BIWTC officials said the average service span of most ferries in the country is 40 years.
Paturia Ferry Ghat officials said there were 7 big and 2 small trucks on the ferry "Rajanigandha" on Tuesday (16 January) night when it left Daulatdia Ferry Ghat for Paturia.
There was no passenger vehicle on it.
After the ferry sank, a total of 10 people have been rescued.
Humayun, the second master of the sunken ferry, is missing.
BIWTC Deputy General Manager (Trade) Khaled Newaz told TBS currently 16 ferries currently operate on the Paturia-Daulatdia route.
Among them 9 are RoRo ferries, 3 are utility, 3 are medium and only 1 is a K-type ferry.
The sunken ferry "Rajnigandha" was a utility category ferry.
As of writing this report on 17 January evening, rescue operations are continuing at Paturia Ghat.
The rescue team was able to recover a small truck loaded with goods using the rescue ship Hamza around 4:15pm.
