Dense fog disrupts ferry services

13 December 2009, 17:00 PM

Star National Desk

Ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia route remained suspended for 11 hours yesterday and on Mawa Kaurakandi route for 13 hours on Saturday due to dense fog. According to our Manikganj correspondent, the nine ferries stopped running while vehicles and passengers remained at Paturia and Daulatdia ferry points for hours. Manager (Commerce) of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Aricha Ashraf Ullah Khan told the correspondent that the services came to a halt at 12:00 am and resumed at 11:0 am with the disappearance of dense fog. Nearly 300 goods loaded trucks and 500 buses and small vehicles were stranded at Paturia and Daulatdia ghat till 11:00 am. The disruption of ferry service created immense sufferings to passengers, especially women and children. A Correspondent from Munshiganj adds: Ferry movement on Mawa-Kaurakandi route remained suspended for 13 hours from 10:00 pm Saturday due to dense fog. The ferry disruption created a long traffic jam on the both ferry points. Six ferries--Shahid Barkat, Shah Makhdum, Renting, Kishori, Ranikhet and Jamuna-- were stranded on mid-river. Hundreds of passengers suffered due to severe cold and hunger for night-long stay on the river. BIWTC Mawa ghat manager Md Sirajul Haque Sokal said, the fog was so dense that it was impossible to see any object even two feet away. More than 100 river vessels including 12 passenger launches were forced to anchor at Dhaleswari, Padma and Meghna rivers at Munshiganj, he said.