The death toll from Sunday's launch accident in the Shitalakkhya River off Narayanganj coast rose to 12, with the recovery of four more bodies on Tuesday. A rescue team of the local fire service fished out the body of Abdullah Al Jaber (30) around 8 am and that of a three-year-old child named Arohi, aged around three, around 10.30 am from the river, said deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters, Mohamamd Shahjahan Shikdar. Later at 10 am, the Coast Guard members recovered the body of another person from Gazaria in Munshiganj. However, the body couldn’t be identified yet. The body of Hatem Ali, 60, was recovered on Tuesday night, fire service sources said "Two more passengers of the ill-fated launch -- Moslem Uddin Hatem (55) from Munshiganj and Jobayer Hossain -- are still missing, and rescue operations are on to find them," said Narayanganj Fire Service deputy assistant director Abdullah Al Arefin. Read: Shitalakkhya launch capsize: BIWTA files 2 cases accusing eight On Sunday, Munshiganj-bound launch ML Asraf Uddin, carrying 50-60 passengers, capsized in the river as cargo vessel MV Rupshi-9 hit it around 2.30 pm, according to the Fire Service and Civil Defence HQ. Some 15-20 people managed to swim ashore. That very day, six bodies were retrieved from the river by rescuers. The deceased were identified as Joynal Bhuiyan, 50, Arifa Begum, 35, her 15-month-old son Shafayet Hossain, Fatema (7), Smrity Rani Barman, (19) and Salma, 33. The death toll reached eight on Monday when two more bodies were fished out. One of them was a 40-year-old unidentified man while another was Umme Khairun Fatema, 30, the headmistress of Harial Government Primary School in Sonargaon. On Monday only, rescue vessel ‘Pratyay’ of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) retrieved the sunken launch ‘MV Afsar Uddin’ from the river. However, no body was found inside the launch, according to fire service officials. Meanwhile, BIWTA announced an indefinite suspension of launch movement on Narayanganj-Chandpur and Munshiganj routes from Monday. BIWTA also filed two separate cases against eight staffers of the cargo vessel that had hit the launch. The naval police seized MV Ruposhi-9, the cargo ship owned by the City Group, after it docked at Munshiganj port shortly after the accident and detained its staffers.

The confirmed death toll from Friday's deadly launch fire off the coast of Jhalakathi rose to 47 on Wednesday evening, as a man admitted with over 40 per cent burns succumbed to his injuries at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. According to a list maintained by Red Crescent Bangladesh's Jhalakathi district office, at least 58 were still missing as of Wednesday. Shahinur, 45, was undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the institute. He expired at around 7:10pm, said Resident Surgeon Dr SM Ayub Hossain. Earlier in the day, the toll reached 46 with the recovery of two more bodies from the River Sugandha. The bodies of the unidentified people were fished out by firefighters from Charkathi of the estuary of the River Sugandha-Bishkhali in the district around 9am, said Md Shafique, deputy assistant director of the district fire service. The deceased were a man aged about 42 and a woman aged around 32, according to the Jhalakathi Fire Service and Civil Defence. Both the bodies were partially burned, said Shafique. Coast Guard members and firefighters continued their search operation in the river for the sixth day in a row. On Tuesday, the police control room set up at the launch terminal provided information about 41 missing passengers, said Md Salauddin, a sub-inspector at Jhalakathi Sadar Police Station. Meanwhile, an FIR was lodged at Jhalakathi Police Station Monday night, following a complaint from the victims' side, accusing eight people, including launch co-owner Hamjalal Sheikh, for the tragedy. Monir Hossain, a resident of Dhaka's Bakhsnagar area, had filed the complaint as four of his family members – Taslima Akter, 30, Sumaia Aktar Mim, 12, Suborna Aktar Tania, 8, and Zunayed Islam Bayezid – remained missing. Monday, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested owner Hamjalal in connection with the deadly fire on board the launch, MV Avijan-10. His arrest followed the Dhaka Marine Court's warrants for the arrest of four owners and four staffers of the launch in a case filed by the Department of Shipping. Read: Writ on launch fire: Govt. must explain why the fire could not be prevented The accused are four owners of Messers Al Araf and Company, the firm operating the launch – Md Hamjalal Sheikh, Md Shamim Ahmed, Md Rasel Ahmed, and Ferdous Hasan Rabby – and master in-charge of Avijan-10 Md Riaz Sikder, driver in-charge Masum Billah, second master Khalilur Rahman, and second driver Abul Kalam. The blaze broke out around 3am Friday on the Barguna-bound launch carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka, and it engulfed the entire vessel within 10 minutes. The death toll from the fire accident climbed to 42 Monday morning. Besides, over 70 people suffered injuries, and many of them are currently undergoing treatment at different hospitals.