An expatriate student, drowned after falling into the river while trying to board a launch in Bhairab upazlila of Kishoreganj on Monday (April 22, 2024). The incident happened at the Bhairab Bazar Launch Terminal around 8:30 PM on Monday. The deceased was Al Islam (30), son of Alauddin, director of the Bhairab Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Two CUET students on motorcycle killed by speeding bus in Chattogram Bhairab River Police Sub-Inspector Rafiqul Islam confirmed the matter. He said, after being informed, a police team reached the spot and rescued Islam with the help of local divers after 40 minutes. He was taken to the Upazila Health Complex, where doctors declared him dead. Islam had gone to Germany for studies on a scholarship about a year and a half ago. He came home on vacation a few days before Eid. Family members said Al Islam was going to board a ferry to hang out with his friends by the riverbank. At that time, he slipped and fell into the river. Read more: Body of Navy person recovered 8 hrs after going missing in Muhuri River

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Bangladesh's state minister for shipping, on Wednesday (January 17, 2024) said the ferry, Rajanigandha, capsized in the Padma River near Paturia ferry terminal in Manikganj after being hit by a bulkhead.“Primarily, it is known that the ferry was anchored near the ghat and a bulkhead hit the ferry,” he said while talking to reporters at the secretariat. The actual reason could be known after getting probe report, he said. Ferry driver missing after it capsizes with vehicles in Padma River“Rajanigandha ferry is a utility ferry and there were a small number of vehicles on it. When vehicles started to board it ,the authorities usually maintain balance and whether the authorities followed it properly at that time it will be known later,” said the minister.The ferry authorities said they anchored the ferry due to dense fog and when they started their journey around 1:30 am from Daulatpur ghat the sky was clear but when they reached near Paturia they experienced poor visibility due to dense fog, he said.A secretary-level officer is on the spot and he will take necessary steps, said Khalid.Mentioning that Bulkhead is needed for transporting goods, the minister said, “The ministry is looking how to modernize those and register those and the Department of Shipping (DoS) is working on it.” Daulatdia-Paturia ferry services resume after 7 hoursA man identified as Humayun Kabir, 39, second master of the ferry, went missing as the ferry on the Daulatdia-Paturia route with nine trucks capsized near No 5 ghat in Paturia of Manikganj district earlier today.

In a harrowing incident early this morning, a ferry operating on the Daulatdia-Paturia route tragically capsized near No 5 ghat in the Manikganj district of Bangladesh. The mishap, involving the ferry ‘Rajanigandha’ with nine trucks onboard, led to the disappearance of one individual, identified as Humayun Kabir, the 39-year-old second driver of the vessel. Read: Weather Update: Will it rain in Dhaka?  Anwarul Islam, warehouse inspector of Fire Service and Civil Defence, reported that the ferry sank around 8:16 am. Following the incident, local fire service divers were promptly dispatched to the site and succeeded in rescuing six individuals from the perilous waters. The exact cause of the ferry’s capsizing remains unclear at this early stage of the investigation. Read: Dhaka Elevated Expressway to be completed in 2024, says Obaidul Quader  In a display of coordinated effort, the Bangladesh Navy has also joined the ongoing rescue operations, as confirmed by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The search continues for the missing ferry driver, Humayun Kabir, with rescue teams working tirelessly against the clock in the hope of a safe recovery. 

Ferry service on Chandpur-Shariatpur route resumed this morning after nearly six hours of suspension due to dense fog in the Meghna River. 30 injured in earthquake panic rush in Cumilla, Chandpur The authorities concerned were forced to suspend the ferry services from 12 am to 6 am today to avert accidents.  Hundreds of vehicles waiting to cross the river remained stuck at both ends of the river, causing distress to passengers and drivers in the chilly weather. Cyclone Midhili: Large-scale damage reported to crops in Chandpur Faisal Alam Chowdhury, manager of Harina Ferry Ghat in Chandpur, said the ferry services resumed around 6 am after the visibility issues caused by the dense fog improved. 60-year-old dies as tree falls on him in Chandpur

A Philippine ferry carrying 82 passengers and crew caught fire as it was approaching a port south of Manila on Friday, and at least 73 of those aboard have been rescued, including many who jumped into the water, the coast guard and survivors said. Search and rescue efforts were continuing after nightfall for the passengers and crew of the M/V Asia Philippines, an inter-island cargo and passenger vessel which came from nearby Calapan city in Oriental Mindoro province, the coast guard said. A 44-year-old woman who was among those rescued was taken to a hospital with unspecified injuries. Video released by the coast guard showed flames and black smoke billowing from the ferry, which was near other ships more than a kilometer (about a mile) from the Batangas port’s anchorage area, coast guard officials said. Read: Man opens fire on Philippine campus, killing 3 people A ship helped coast guard vessels extinguish the fire, they said. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. Passenger Benedict Fernandez told DZMM radio that smoke and flames suddenly rose from the second deck as crew members were apparently trying to turn an engine on and off as the ferry approached the port. There was no immediate order to abandon ship, but when it became hard to see because of the smoke, he said he decided to jump into the water with his two children from the third deck, along with other passengers. “I pushed my children off because if we didn't jump from the top, we would really get burned because the soles of our feet were already feeling the heat,” Fernandez said. They were rescued from the water by another boat that approached the burning ship and then transferred to a tugboat, which brought them to port, he said. The ferry, which was carrying 48 passengers, 34 crewmembers and 16 vehicles, can carry about 400 passengers, the coast guard said. In the past, there have been instances when ferries carried unlisted passengers in defiance of regulations. Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained boats, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces. In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.

From Tuesday, commuters will have to shell out more for a ferry ride in Bangladesh. This is because the government has increased launch fares in view of the recent 42.5% hike -- from Tk 80 to Tk 114 a litre -- in the diesel price. Fares have been raised by Tk 0.70 to Tk 3 per km for the first 100 km from the existing Tk 2.30 per km. And then beyond the first 100 km, the fare has been hiked by Tk 0.60 to Tk 2.60 per km from the existing Tk 2. The minimum fare has also been fixed at Tk 33, a Tk 8 hike from the existing Tk 25, according to a government notification. Read: FIR lodged over Dhaka BRT girder tragedy Bangladesh Inland Water Transportation Authority (BIWTA) refixed the highest and lowest fares per km for passengers following the recommendations of the working committee formed by the Shipping Ministry in this regard, it said. Against the backdrop of the launch owners' proposal for a steep fare hike, the Shipping Ministry had formed the working committee to recommend new rates by taking into account the potential implications of fuel price hike for all stakeholders. In November 2021, after a 23% hike in diesel prices, launch fares were increased by more than 35%. The minimum launch fare was raised to Tk 25 from Tk 18.  

A man was killed and another went missing as two ferries collided head-on in the Padma River in the early hours on Sunday.  The deceased was identified as pickup van driver Md Khokon, 40, of Jhalakathi, said SI Sakhwat Hossain of Louhajang Police Station. Two ferries- Begum Rokeya and Begum Sufia Kamal- collided head-on near Jajira in Shariatpur district on the Shimulia-Majhirkandi route around 3 am.  Sufia Kamal ferry master Md Hasan said parts of both ferries were damaged in the collision.  READ: Paturia ghat sees huge crowd; Passengers suffer as 2 ferries remain inoperative Another person went missing after he fell in the river while 10  people on both the ferries sustained injuries.  Hasan said that he was asleep and the second master was operating the ferry.  The second master couldn’t control it at Shariatpur turning point due to strong current which led to the collision, he added.

Rescuers in Indonesia were searching for 25 people who were missing after a ferry sank in the Makassar Strait in Central Sulawesi province, officials said Sunday. A total of 42 people were on the boat when it sank in bad weather on Thursday morning while traveling from a seaport in Makassar to Kalmas Island in Pangkep Regency, said Djunaedi, the head of the South Sulawesi National Search and Rescue Agency. Like many Indonesians, Djunaedi goes by only one name. Seventeen people were later rescued, including some by two tugboats that were at sea at the time of the incident. Djunaedi said the search and rescue agency received new information about the location of the sunken ferry on Saturday and dispatched crews to the area. Two ferries and a search and rescue boat, along with local fishing boats, are involved in the search for the missing passengers. READ: Indonesia tourist bus smashes into billboard, killing 14 Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used as transport and safety regulations can lapse. In 2018, an overcrowded ferry with about 200 people on board sank in a deep volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra province, killing 167 people. In one of the country’s worst recorded disasters, an overcrowded passenger ship sank in February 1999 with 332 people aboard. There were only 20 survivors.

A mobile court in Barishal imposed a penalty of Tk 30,000 on three ferry owners for carrying passengers beyond the permitted capacity on Friday. Joint director of Bangladesh Inland and Water Transport Authority, Mostafizur Rahman, said the mobile court conducted a drive in the Barishal port area around 7.30pm and imposed a fine of Tk 10,000 each on the owners of MV Parabat-18, Parabat-10 and MV Surovi-9 for overloading. The mobile court was led by executive magistrate Mushfiqur Rahman and assistant commissioner (land) Tariqul Islam, he added. Also read: Barishal ferry terminal brim with Eid rush

Hundreds of buses, cars and trucks remained stranded at Paturia Ghat on Friday due to the onrush of homebound people ahead Eid-ul-Fitr. A long tailback has been seen on Paturia road since the morning. Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) sources said over 700 vehicles including private vehicles, passenger buses, and trucks were stranded at Paturia Ghat, causing immense suffering to commuters. Over 500 freight trucks and 200 hundred other vehicles were waiting to get on the ferries. READ: Passengers suffer as traffic piles up at Paturia Ghat Shah Nawaz, Deputy General Manager (DGM) of BIWTC Aricha Sector, said that 17 ferries have been operating on this route as Banalata and Rajnigandha ferries were out of order. As normal cargo truck crossings will be closed three days before the Eid, they are waiting for the crossing now, he added. Meanwhile, many of the bus and truck drivers stranded at Paturia said that the suffering would increase further as Eid festival is getting closer.