'Faulty engines, reckless speed to blame'

The launch ‘MV Avijan-10’ started its journey from Sadarghat in Dhaka for Barguna at around 6:00pm on Thursday. From the very beginning, the vessel was moving forward recklessly.

When the launch was operating with high speed using only two engines, four technicians were working to repair the dysfunction in launch engines. Due to the extra pressure on those [two engines], fire broke out in the launch.

Sensing the situation, the owner and employees of the launch fled the scene immediately without taking any attempt to douse the fire.

A businessman of Barguna, Md Sagir Hossain Hawlader, said he was asleep in the third floor’s cabin while the fire broke out. Suddenly, he woke up sensing the blaze and rushed to the second floor. Later, the businessman jumped into the river to save his life.

Sagir Hossain said he went near the engine room and saw the technicians running engines with reckless speed. At that time, he took photographs of that scene.

Some passengers said four technicians were in the engine room to fix the faulty engine. They were operating the launch on full throttle to find faults in the engine. The launch was shaking due to the speed.

Sagir Hossain said there were no fire extinguishing facilities in the launch and the owner and staff hurriedly left the launch once the fire had broken out.

Another passenger Jahidul Islam of Barguna said the whole deck of the launch got heated as soon as it left the Barishal port. The deck of the launch was enclosed by Tarapaulin to keep the passengers from winter gusts. The fire broke out at around 2:30 in the night after the launch reached Dewri area leaving the Jhalakathi river port. The fire which initially broke out at the engine room spread quickly throughout the launch. 20 barrels of diesel, two motorcycles and some gas cylinders kept for cooking blasted due to fire. Air conditioner compressors of the VIP cabins also blasted simultaneously.

The passengers said the launch authorities could have fixed the engine problem when passengers were not on board.

Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan, deputy director of Fire Service and Civil Defense of Barishal, said, “We extinguished the fire at around 3:30am. No one from launch authorities was found at the moment. We also searched for them boarding the speedboats. Bodies were lying on the cabins. Initially it seems the fire broke out in the engine room. We didn’t find any fire extinguishing equipment inside the launch.”

Asked, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority’s (BIWTA) joint director Md Mostafizur Rahman told Prothom Alo that two probe bodies have been formed to investigate whether the launch had adequate fire extinguishing equipment or if it was on a trial run. Answers to these questions would be found after the probe report, he said, adding that it would not be appropriate to make any comments beforehand.