Almost 120 confirmed dead in Bangladesh ferry accident
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-21 21:23

DHAKA - The search for bodies from a ferry disaster in Bangladesh was called off to the dismay of relatives still hunting for missing family members, as the confirmed death toll reached 117.

A crowd of up to 5,000 people, many of them angry and desperate for news of their relatives, had gathered earlier Monday as divers searched for bodies in the capsized ferry in the Buriganga river on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Some stood knee-deep in water, straining to recognise corpses pulled out of the craft by police and fire service divers.

Navy Lieutenant Commander Mahbubul Rashid, who was in charge of the salvage operation, called off the search Monday afternoon. Eighty-two bodies were recovered Sunday with 35 more found on Monday.

Three Bangladeshi women mourn after recovering the bodies of dead relatives, following a ferry disaster near Dhaka. [AFP]

"We have salvaged the vessel and searched it throughout. There are no more bodies trapped inside," Rashid said.

"The total number of bodies found is 117," he added, as relatives pleaded for the search to continue.

"I was supposed to go with my husband on the launch but at the last minute I stayed in Dhaka to meet my sister; I just want his body," said a woman named Halima, wailing loudly and clutching two baby sons. "Oh Allah, help us find my husband."

The two-deck ferry capsized late Saturday when it was hit by a pre-monsoon cyclone.

Survivors have said they believed up to 500 people had been on board, although the official number of passengers was 167.

Many relatives stayed at the scene all night waiting for the search to resume early Monday. It was called off late Sunday due to poor visibility.

"It is like torture standing here watching each body being brought out, wondering if it is them," said a man named Kabir whose brother and nephew were on the ferry.

"I have been here since 4:00 pm yesterday because I know they were on the launch. The search is very slow," he added. "(My relatives) have not been found. Maybe we will search the river banks ourselves. We have no other option."

Other relatives of the scores of missing passengers, however, still clung to the hope that they would be found alive.

"We are thinking that maybe he is injured and has found his way to some hospital," said Mohammed Salim, whose brother Mofizur Rahman, a businessman, was among the missing.

"We have about 40 friends and family and we will mount our own search. The waiting is very painful but we are praying to Allah," he added.

Others were despondent and said they did not know what to do.

"What can we say? We have been here two days and we have not found him," said Abdul Ahad Khan, whose college principal cousin Mohammed Ali was still missing.

Survivors said they jumped from the upper deck and swam for the shore after the boat began to capsize in stormy conditions. Many lost family members in the dark and confusion.

"It was very crowded. There were more than 400 on board, I think. There were heavy winds and the ferry lurched. It was chaos," said survivor Delwar Hossain who lost his 20 year-old daughter Beauty.

The MV Maharaj had been sailing from the capital to the central town of Chandpur. Many passengers had been travelling home for a two-day government holiday which started Sunday.

Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain visited the scene Sunday. He pledged that new measures to reduce the death toll in regular ferry accidents would be implemented immediately, instead of comiong into force in April.

The measures include new weather monitoring stations, modernisation of old ferries and extra checks to prevent overloading.

At least 3,000 people have died in more than 260 ferry accidents in Bangladesh since 1977. A combination of rough weather and overcrowding is often to blame.

The delta nation is criss-crossed by a network of 230 rivers with some 3,000 ferries providing daily transport for more than 100,000 people.

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