Yet Turag rescue called off
Though the authorities called off the rescue operation Wednesday afternoon, relatives of the missing passengers of the ill-fated Baishakhi Paribahan bus continued their isolated search efforts in the Turag river and its adjacent areas yesterday looking for dead bodies.
No more body was found yesterday as nobody could still ascertain the number of missing passengers.
Director (operations) of Fire Brigade, Major Shahjalal told The Daily Star yesterday that they have no specific information about the number of missing passengers.
Local administration continued the search effort with four boats yesterday, said Savar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rabbi Miah. The boats searched Kamrangirchar, Mohammadpur, Bosila and Amin Bazar areas.
Reazul Islam, a garment factory worker, said he was searching the area in a hired boat to find out his missing cousin Mamunur Rashid. He felt that it could have been easier if there were an information centre to help the relatives.
Local people and relatives of the missing passengers alleged that the rescue operation lacked coordination among the fire brigade, army, navy, coast guard and BIWTA teams.
As there was no information centre at the accident site, family members found it very difficult to keep track of the rescue operation and to know whether any of their missing relatives or their bodies was found.
Apart from rescuers, representatives from the district and upazila administration, police, Rab and Red Crescent Society were at the accident site. But none of them took any initiative to make a list of the missing persons, claimed some relatives.
The local administration is responsible for opening an information centre and keep tally of the persons missing, Major Shahjalal said.
Savar UNO claimed they made announcement on loudspeakers and urged relatives to contact with the magistrate at a nearby ground. But they received no response and consequently no information centre was opened.
Family members of the bus driver, Abdul Khaleque, informed the chairman of Baishakhi Paribahan, Sohel Rana that Khaleque has been missing since the accident. They now fear that he might have died in the accident.
On Tuesday, rescue teams salvaged the sunken bus about 54 hours after it plunged into the Turag at Amin Bazar in Savar. It took the rescuers 29 hours to locate the bus under water.
Sub-inspector (SI) Shamsuzzaman of Savar Police Station said a case was filed early Wednesday against the driver of the bus. The SI, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, added that they could not confirm whether the driver was alive.
