MV Abhijan-10 kept moving for 40 minutes after catching fire

Such a grave tragedy could have been avoided if MV Abhijan-10 had rushed to shore immediately after catching fire. In that case everyone could have survived, according to eye witnesses and survivors.

News agency UNB reports, the launch crossed the Barishal port at 2.00am. Exactly 20-25 minutes later, while crossing the Dapdapia point of Sugandha River, a passenger named Rashed from Barguna, saw a fire starting in the engine room.

Rashed said, “I was sitting next to the engine room. After crossing the Dapdapia point, I saw fire in the engine room.”

But, the launch continues to move while the ferry staff were trying to extinguish the fire. After moving like this for about 40-45 minutes, the fire suddenly engulfed the entire vessel.

In this regard, Barishal divisional commissioner Saiful Ahsan Badal said, "The inefficiency of the sailor can be considered as a major crime in this case. If the launch had been stopped without taking any risk after the fire broke out, perhaps such a big tragedy would not have happened.”

Another passenger, Kalu Mia, a resident of Dhalua area of Barguna, who was undergoing treatment at Sher-e-bangla Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH), said, "There were seven barrels of oil next to the engine room. When they explode in the heat of the fire, it engulfed the entire launch. The fire was so rapid that most of the passengers in the cabins on the third floor didn’t even have time to get out.”

The steel structures of the launch started to expand due to extreme heat and the doors got locked. As a result, the passengers couldn’t jump into the river either, Kalu Mia added.

"Ever since the launch left Dhaka Sadar Ghat on Thursday afternoon, there has been a strange sound from the launch engine. I have never heard of any such sound before”, said Kamrul Hasan, a regular passenger of that launch.

Then, when the fire broke out following the explosion, we had just nothing to do.

At the time of the fire incident, how many passengers were on ‘Abhijan-10’ launch is still unknown.

However, the launch owner Hum Jalal Sheikh said there were 300-350 passengers in the launch.

SM Azgar Ali, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) of Barishal, also claimed that the launch left Dhaka for Barguna with about 310 passengers.

Meanwhile, the passengers who survived the launch fire, said there were more than 1,500 passengers in the launch.

Although about 70 men and women were admitted to SBMCH and 37 bodies were recovered till 4.00pm on Friday, it is not yet clear what happened to the rest of the passengers on the launch.

In Jhalakathi, dead bodies of many passengers were recovered from the gutted launch anchored on the banks of Sugandha river. However, identities of some 33 deceased persons couldn’t be identified. Their bodies have been sent to the morgue of Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital.

Dulal Sardar, a resident of Dhalua area of Barguna, said, “I got the news of the accident through a phone call from my home in the morning. Later I found that six out my nine relatives on the launch are missing.”

Shahjalal Hawlader of Patharghata, who came to Barishal in search of 13-year-old Rakibul, who left Narayanganj for Barguna in the launch, said, “I have come to Barishal as I could not find any trace of Rakibul in Jhalakathi.”

Since Friday morning, Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH) has been receiving a number of injured people. Moniruzzaman Shahin, the assistant director at SBMCH, said, "We admitted around 66 patients till 8.00am."

"Of them, 18 are women," said Moniruzzaman. "Three women and four men with life-threatening burns have been referred to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital as we've no dedicated burn unit."

In the meantime, two of the injured succumbed to burn injuries on the way to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

The patients and their relatives are enduring immense sufferings as the burn is closed. It has been closed for the last seven months. Patients are being forced to seek medical treatment in the surgery ward of SBMCH, said Rabiul Islam, a nurse of SBMCH.

Director HM Saiful Islam said, "Patients with burn injuries are being provided treatment in the surgery ward." If the patient's condition is critical, they are being sent to Dhaka. Besides, physicians from Dhaka have decided to come to Barishal for the treatment of the patients with burn injuries.

Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) director general Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun visited Sher-e-Bangla Medical College (SBMCH) on Friday to see the injured in the ‘Avijan-10’ launch fire at Jhalakathi.

Following the direction of RAB DG, a helicopter reached Barishal and carried two critically injured to Dhaka for better treatment, said Imran Khan, ASP (media) of RAB Headquarters.

Although almost all the launch passengers who survived the accident claimed that the fire started from the engine room, the owner of the launch Hum Jalal Sheikh refused to accept it.

He claimed that the engine was installed at the launch only a month ago. After installing the engine, four round trips on Dhaka-Barisal route were made.

In response to a question about mechanical faults, Jalal said that the launch had at least 21 fire extinguishers, but the fire spread so fast that there was no time to use them.

Claiming that there was no mechanical fault in the launch, he said that if the engine caught fire, the fire would never spread to the whole ship. The fire spread from the second floor to the engine and the cabin following an explosion.