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JAMUNA LAUNCH DISASTER

Relatives protest delay in rescue

5 more bodies retrieved, pushing death toll to 55

STAR REPORT
Five more decomposed bodies were found yesterday floating on the Jamuna far downstream from the accident point at Aricha, where exasperated relatives and locals burst into intense agitation against the persistent delay in salvage operation four days into the launch disaster.
Angry shouts and wails of frustration reverberated along the river banks as the metal rescue wire tying the sunken MV Raipura to BIWTA salvage vessel Rustam snapped again for the third consecutive day, further delaying the rescue operation. It was stayed in the evening amid raging wind and a fierce current.
Meanwhile, the police and locals retrieved five badly rotten bodies from the river drifted by a strong current as far away as Tepurakandi and Madankhali villages under Decreer Char union in Faridpur. With this, the death toll in one of the country's worst riverine accident rose to 55, with some 120 still missing and feared drowned.
The strong current frustrated the attempts of the divers to raise the sunken vessel from the riverbed. MV Raipura went down four days ago with around 200 passengers on board. Only some 20 passengers could swim ashore and the rest were trapped inside.
Locals fear many bodies might have been washed downstream, as the authorities have been searching only in the day. But the relatives of the missing are still waiting for miracles to happen or at least to get back the bodies and give them a decent burial.
Our Manikganj correspondent reports: Several hundred people
including relatives of the accident victims demonstrated at the spot in the afternoon, accusing the rescuers of negligence. They took out a procession, shouting demands to get back the bodies immediately and to speed up the rescue process.
"We've been staying here for the last four days and still don't know when this waiting will end," said a relative,who came from Kushtia in search of his brother.
Akhter Banu, the youngest daughter of missing Abdus Salam Darji of Aricha, alleged the authorities have been neglecting the salvage operation and, instead, searching for bodies in the downstream.
But sources at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) said after four-inch wires had snapped for six times in the last four days, they were now trying to pull up the launch tying it with seven-inch wire.
"We've now tied up the sunken launch with seven-inch metal wires and hope to succeed very soon," said a BIWTA official.
But, the relatives said the rescuers could use the thicker wire earlier.
"It seems they have no idea how to run a rescue operation. We didn't expect it from them," said Ziaur Rahman, brother of a missing passenger.