'Rajanigandha' capsize: Operator negligence initially blamed as no cracks found in ferry

The sinking of the ferry Rajanigandha in the River Padma in Paturia of Manikganj that left its second engine master dead was due to negligence of its operators, concerned officials said. 

The ferry with nine trucks on board sank in the river amid heavy fog on the Paturia-Daulatdia route on 17 January. Following the recovery of all the trucks, the sunken ferry was retrieved by the rescue ship Prottoy on 24 January.

After inspecting the ferry kept on the bank of Padma in the Nayakandi area of Paturia, BIWTC's Executive Engineer for Paturia Ferry Service Unit Md Rubaluzzaman on Thursday told The Business Standard that the lowermost deck of the ferry was found completely unharmed.

"We found its bottom and sides [walls] completely unaffected. No major problems were found with the ferry,"

"We did not initially find any major issues with the ferry. As the investigation committee is working on the matter, we will be able to know the actual cause of the incident once the investigation is done."

He also ruled out the possibility of overloading being the cause of the incident.

"The ferry has a load line, so if there was an issue of overloading, then the water might have seeped from the side in the beginning and if that happened, the ferry master would have fixed the load," added Rubaluzzaman.

A source within the BIWTC also echoed the same sentiment. 

Since the officials did not see any significant cracks or any signs of bumps on the bottom and walls of the ferry, it is initially believed that the incident may have occurred due to the negligence of those in charge of operating the ferry on the day of the incident, said the source.

However, as the matter is currently under investigation, no official of BIWTC agreed to comment on the matter officially.

Meanwhile, the authorities have suspended the second master of the ferry, Md Anjuman Islam, in connection with the incident.

On 22 January, the body of Rajanigandha's second engine master Humayun Kabir was recovered from the river around 7 kilometres away from the scene where the ferry sank.

Earlier, Meher Ali, who was the in-charge master of Rajanigandha during the incident, said the ferry sank when a bulkhead hit it.

 TBS could not reach him despite several attempts after the incident.