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Capsized Launch Salvaged

24 more bodies recovered

Death toll now 55; 7 still missing

Our Correspondent, Munshiganj
Asaduzzaman, a passenger of the fatal MV Miraj-4, phoned his elder brother as the vessel hit by a storm was struggling to keep itself afloat in the Meghna river on Thursday.
That was the last time Mujibur Rahman talked to him before the launch sank with an estimated 200 passengers on its way to Shariatpur from Dhaka.
"I did not wait a minute and set off for Munshiganj. The launch has been rescued today after three days but my brother has not been found," said Mujibur, as authorities declared an end to the rescue operation yesterday afternoon with 24 more bodies recovered taking the death toll to 55.
Ofthe victims, 31 are men, 13 women and 11 children.
The launch was towed ashore by a salvage vessel of BIWTA around 3:00am yesterday.
About 50-60 people were still waiting on the bank of the river for their relatives, dead or alive, said Munshiganj Deputy Commissioner Saiful Hassan Badal. However, the authorities have a list of seven people reportedly missing.
"Local administration will continue searching for the
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missing ones in the Meghna river," Saiful said.
Divers of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) recovered nine, out of 24 bodies, from inside the capsized launch yesterday while the rest were recovered from different points of the river, said ATM Mahbubul Karim, an upazila nirbahi (executive) officer of Gazaria.
Fifty-four bodies have already been handed over to the victims’ relatives.
As BIWTA Chairman Md Shamsuddoha Khandaker declared the rescue operation closed around 9:00am, relatives of the missing people attacked the salvage vessel Prattay anchored on the riverbank.
One and a half hours later, rescuers resumed the salvage operation, receiv-
ing instructions from local lawmaker Mrinal Kami Das and DC Saiful Hassan. Eight more bodies were retrieved between 1:00pm and 1:30pm.
"I saw so many bodies. But, where is my brother?" Mujibur cried out on the riverbank.
Relatives of the victims of Thursday's launch capsize, second in two weeks, demanded trial ofShipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, blaming him for “negligence" in the rescue operation.
"Why should it be that divers rescued more bodies after the rescue operation had officially ended?" a relative said.
Had the rescue operation not resumed, many would have still been missing, he said, demanding that the operation be continued.