MP vessel's recklessness, bridge's faulty design responsible: Probe body

Recklessness of MP's cargo vessel and faulty design of the under-construction 3rd Shitalakshya bridge are responsible for the passenger launch capsize on 4 April, a shipping ministry probe body has said.

It also said the bridge construction materials kept in the waterways also caused the accident.

The cargo vessel named SKL-3 hit a Munsiganj-bound passenger vessel ML Sabit Al Hassan in the River Shitalakshya on 4 April, leaving 34 people drowned to death. Lawmaker Sheikh Tonmoy owns the cargo vessel.

The shipping ministry, district administration and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) formed three separate probe bodies to investigate the accident.

The shipping ministry’s probe body submitted a 27-page report to shipping secretary Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury on 13 April.

The probe body also made some 23 recommendations to avert future accidents on the waterways.

Member secretary of the probe body, Md Rafiqul Islam, also director at marine safety and traffic management department under BIWTA, told Prothom Alo that the probe report was finalised within seven working days of its formation.

According to the report, a first-class master, Wahiduzzaman, was driving the SKL-3 while a third-class master, Zakir Hossain, was controlling wheel of the ML Sabit Al Hassan on 4 April.

Although the SKL-3 was a registered vessel, it was being driven without survey clearance.

The probe body interrogated master of SKL-3, master of Sabit Al Hassan, concerned surveyor under the department of shipping, and officials of BIWTA to complete the report.

The body recommended for amending design of the under-construction bridge to keep the waterway wide, withdrawal of the sunken-deck launches in phases, checking indiscriminate anchoring as well as loading-unloading, proper training for the vessel masters and increasing the number of surveyors.