A fisheries department speedboat sank after colliding with a passenger launch in the Meghna River in Lalmohan upazila of Bhola yesterday (18 March), leaving a police constable missing and several others injured.
The incident occurred at around 8pm at Mangal Sikdar launch terminal, where the passenger launch Karnaphuli-12 was stationed.
Lalmohan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Oliul Islam confirmed the incident, calling it an accident.
The missing constable, Md Fakhrul, posted at the Mangal Sikdar Police Investigation Centre in Lalmohan, remained missing as of 11am today.
The injured are Lalmohan upazila fisheries office assistant Abbas Uddin, field assistants Monowar Hossain and Saiful Islam Sohag, and three police constables.
Police and eyewitnesses said a two-month fishing ban is in effect in the Meghna and Tetulia rivers in Bhola to boost hilsa production. Police, along with fisheries officials, were conducting a drive in the river to enforce the ban.
At one stage, the speedboat developed a mechanical fault and began drifting. At the same time, MV Karnaphuli-12, carrying Eid-bound passengers from Dhaka to Betua terminal in Charfesson, was unloading passengers at the terminal.
The drifting speedboat moved towards the launch’s rear propeller. As it neared the launch, those on board tried to push it away, but the force of the propeller’s water current caused the boat to capsize and sink.
Others on board swam ashore, but Fakhrul went missing.
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