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received Tk 25,000 in government assistance.

Officials said no new missing persons had been reported to the district or upazila administration. However, a woman named Mukta Akter, also known as Sohana Shova, from Baliakandi upazila informed the fire service that her elder brother, Ripon Sheikh, is missing.

Ripon, 40, a kiln worker of Shyamsundarpur village under Baharpur union, had left home on Wednesday afternoon with his younger brother, Sumon Sheikh, for Dhaka.

Sumon, who works at a factory in Islampur, Dhaka, said he left Ripon at the New Market poultry farm bus stand in Rajbari town and went to a nearby shop for tea. When he returned, he found his brother missing.

Assuming nothing unusual, Sumon continued his journey to Dhaka and later informed the family of his safe arrival. As Ripon did not carry a mobile phone, the family was unable to contact him.

Mukta Akter told journalists that her brother had planned to buy a phone after reaching Dhaka and inform the family.

“We still don’t know whether he reached Dhaka. Since the bus sank on Wednesday night, we have been in deep concern,” she said, adding that Ripon’s wife, who is now at her parental home in Rajshahi, has not yet been informed.

Fire service official Rana said the family has not been able to confirm whether Ripon was a passenger on the Souhardo Paribahan bus.

“If any body is recovered, we will try to match it with the missing person,” he said.

Meanwhile, the registration of the bus has been suspended, said Muhammad Ahidur Rahman, assistant director (Rajbari Circle) at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.