Bus plunge at ferry ghat kills five

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Five people died when a microbus plunged into the river Padma at Daulatdia ferry ghat under Rajbari district early yesterday.
The dead are Momotaz Khatun 27, wife of Jhumur Malitha, his son Nayan, 9, younger sister Swapna 10, sister-in-law Tagar 18 and brother-in-law Laltu 22. They all hailed from Dighirpara area of Meherpur town.

Jhumur’s another brother-in-law Zillur, who was also in the microbus, managed to swim ashore.

Police said the incident occurred at around 3:30 am as the driver of the microbus lost control over the steering while it was embarking the ferry and fell into the river.

Family sources said Momotaz along with 12 on board the microbus left Meherpur town for Dhaka to receive her husband Jhumur Malitha, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Kuwait, at Zia International Airport (ZIA) in the morning.

Six others, including Jhumur’s younger brother Pintu, brother-in-law Dulu and nephew Imran escaped the accident as they got down from the vehicle before it got onto the ferry, the sources said.

Fire brigade personnel from Rajbari and a rescue team from Dhaka reached the spot at 6:00am and recovered the bodies at noon. The microbus driver remained missing since the incident.

Ferry service at the ghat remained suspended for a few more hours.

The bodies of the five reached Meherpur town at around 4.30pm. Jhumur Malitha landed at ZIA at around 9:00am and reached Meherpur at 3.30pm by a bus.

BSS adds: Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) yesterday formed a three-member committee to probe the accident at Daulatdia ferry ghat.

The committee, headed by a general manager, has been asked to submit its report in a week, a BIWTA press release said last night.

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