Nine missing as trawler with bridal party sinks

20 August 2009, 17:00 PM

A Correspondent, Madaripur

Anxious relatives wait on the bank of Arial Kha River in Shibchar upazila of Madaripur district yesterday as nine people went missing after a trawler carrying a bridal party capsized on Wednesday night.Photo: STAR

A trawler with 42 members of a bridal party on board capsized in the Arial Kha river after a collision with another sand-laden trawler in Shibchar upazila on Wednesday night. Of them, 33 people, including the bridegroom and bride, managed to swim ashore while the rest remained missing as of 6:00pm yesterday. The missing people are Duttapara Union Awami League Vice-President Barek Farazi, 70, his grandson Mizanur, 8, Barsha, 5 and Bristi, 7, Rajib, 8, and Kamran, 5, Soma, 7, Hasan, 8 and Alamgir Sheikh, 28. Search for the missing people is going on. Their relatives and a number of locals are waiting on the banks of the river. Wailing of the relatives has created a heart- rending scene there. Local lawmaker Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury Liton visited the spot yesterday. Sources said a team of divers from Dhaka reached the spot yesterday for search operation. Police said the trawler carrying the members of the bridal party from Char Manair village under Sadarpur upazila to Kharakandi village under Shibchar upazila sank in the river after it collided with a sand-laden trawler in old ferry ghat area at Sannashir char at around 9:30pm. Police seized the sand-laden truck, but its driver managed to flee. Shibchar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Bipul Chandra Biswas, Upazila Vice- Chairman Shamsuddin Khan, OC Abdul Jalil are monitoring the search operation from the spot.