Pakhi and Hakim Sharif were done choosing a groom for their elder daughter Hafsa.

They were on their way to visit their grandfather’s house in Barguna’s Taltoli upazila. But as luck would have it, four year old twins Samia and Lamia never reached there, as they died in the MV Abhijan-10 launch fire.

As Hafeez Tuhin leapt from the launch after it had caught fire, he was still holding his wife Rizia Begum and their baby girl Tabassum’s hands.

“Hearing screams emanating from Sugandha river, my neighbours and I got up from our beds. It was obvious that something was wrong,” Md Aliul Islam Akan, a local of Diakul village of Jhalakathi Sadar upazila, recounted.

Death toll from the fire on a launch in Jhalakathi now stands at 41, Saiful Hasan Badal, divisional commissioner of Barishal, confirmed to The Daily Star today.

Two siblings, who went missing in the Sangu river in Bandarban's Rowangchhari upazila yesterday, were found dead today.

A probe body, formed by the Ministry of Shipping to investigate the fire that broke out on the MV Abhijan-10 launch in the Sugandha river in Jhalakathi, has found some problems in the engine.

The bodies of twin sisters Samia and Lamia, who died in the MV Abhijan-10 launch fire in the Sugandha river in Jhalakathi, have been identified by their relatives today.

None of the 15 victims of MV Abhijan-10 fire, who were sent to Dhaka for advanced treatment, is out of danger, doctors have said.

At least four workers were burnt in a gas explosion at the Jamuna Ship-breaking Yard in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila this morning.

The Namaz-e-Janaza of 30 victims, who died in the fire on Barguna-bound launch MV Abhijan-10, was held on the premises of Barguna Circuit House this morning.

The death toll in yesterday’s fire that broke out in the engine room of a launch on the Sugandha river near Jhalakathi Sadar upazila rose to 38 as another injured died last night in a Dhaka hospital.

The engine of MV Abhijan-10 developed problems a few hours after it left Dhaka for Barguna around 6:00pm on Thursday.

Putul Begum, from Dhaka’s Madartek, boarded the MV Abhijan-10 on Thursday evening to go to her sister’s home in Barguna along with at least seven family members for a holiday trip.

Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) has demanded a fair probe, punishment of persons responsible and compensation for victims of the deadly fire on Barguna-bound MV Abhijan-10 launch in Jhalakathi.

A tourist drowned while two siblings went missing in the Sangu river in Bandarban’s Rowangchhari upazila this noon.

Expressing profound shock and sorrow at the loss of lives and injuries in the MV Avijan-10 launch fire, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today directed the authorities concerned to ensure quick treatment of the injured and hand over the bodies to their relatives promptly.

Ten-year-old Taifa died in the fire that broke out at the MV Abhijan-10 launch on the Sugandha River near Jhalakathi Sadar upazila early today.

A woman and her eight-year-old son who sustained burn injuries in the MV Abhijan-10 fire were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery his afternoon.

A gas cylinder explosion in the canteen next to the engine room on the ground floor of MV Abhijan-10 is the reason for the fire, said a cabin boy of the launch.