Bus falls off ferry due to lack of safety system and mechanical fault: Report

The investigation committee has brought to the fore the issue of lack of safety system at the ferry ghat, chaos in the management of the ghat and mechanical fault of the bus in the incident that killed at least 26 people at the Daulatdia ferry ghat in Rajbari.

The head of the committee and Additional District Magistrate Uchen May officially handed over the relevant investigation report to Deputy Commissioner Sultana Akhter on Tuesday night. She confirmed the submission of the investigation report on Wednesday.

The report has specifically identified the cause of the accident and the responsibilities of those concerned. According to the investigation committee's observations, there were several reasons behind the accident, including lack of safety system at the ghat, chaos in the management of the ghat and mechanical fault of the bus.

Head of the investigation committee Uchen May said, "We have spoken to the locals along with eyewitness testimonies. We have also spoken to several institutions in the interest of conducting the investigation properly. We have made several recommendations to determine the cause of the accident and prevent future accidents." The head of the investigation committee did not want to say anything more.

Deputy Commissioner Sultana Akhter said, "We have received the investigation report. We will send the report to the Cabinet Division. We will take legal action as per the instructions received from there."

On the afternoon of March 25, a passenger bus named Sauhardyo Paribahan from Kumarkhali in Kushtia with more than fifty passengers lost control and sank into the Padma from Pontoon No. 3 of Daulatdia Ferry Ghat. A total of 26 bodies have been recovered in this incident. All the bodies were handed over to their relatives. Among them, 18 are from 12 families in Rajbari district. In addition, four people from Kushtia, one from Jhenaidah, one from Gopalganj, one from Dinajpur and one from Ashulia in Dhaka. In some families, a mother, son and grandson died, in some families, a husband and wife died, and in some families, a mother, daughter, mother and son died.

That night, Deputy Commissioner Sultana Akhtar formed a five-member investigation committee with Additional District Magistrate Uchen May as the convener and Goalanda Upazila Executive Officer as the member secretary.