Arrest warrant issued against 8 including MV Abhijan owners

Arrest warrants have been issued against eight people including four owners of the launch MV Abhijan-10 which caught fire early Friday (24 December) claiming 42 lives.

Special Metropolitan Magistrate Joynab Begum of Marine Court issued the order following a case filed over the incident on Sunday (26 December) afternoon, reports the Prothom Alo.

The accused in the case are the four owners of the launch company Messer's Al Araf & Company – Hamzalal Sheikh, Md Shamim Ahmed, Md Russell Ahmed and Ferdous Hasan Rabbi; the Master-in-Charge of the launch Md Riaz Sikder; Driver-in-Charge Md Masum Billah; Second Master Md Khalilur Rahman, and Second Driver Abul Kalam, stated the case file.

Chief Inspector of the Department of Shipping, Md Shafiqur Rahman, filed the case under the Inland Shipping Ordinance (ISO), 1976.

Sources at the Department of Shipping said that the launch's fitness certificate, registration and master-driver's certificate will be suspended on Sunday as per the law.

The case statement mentioned that there was a lack of adequate fire extinguishers, lifebuoys, sandboxes, and buckets in the launch and that there were many unofficially-kept diesel-carrying drums and cylinder gas cookers for cooking, which goes against sections 56, 66, 69, and 70 of the ISO'76 act and its 2005-amendment.

For the aforementioned reasons, a case has been filed against the launch owners and the launch operators and officials.

The charges were filed after the preliminary investigation report was submitted by the shipping department's Barishal inspector.

A supplementary application will be filed after the probe body, formed for this incident, submits its report.