Sunken ferry Rajanigandha retrieved after 8 days

Rajanigandha, the utility ferry that had sunk in the Padma River near Manikganj's Paturia along with nine pickup trucks and covered vans a week ago, was salvaged late on Wednesday.

The ferry was retrieved by the rescue ship Prottoy around 11pm after being completely refloated in the Padma an hour earlier. 

Later, it was taken to the bank of Padma in the Nayakandi area of Paturia ghat.
With joint efforts of the BIWTA (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority), fire service and Bangladesh Navy divers and rescue workers, the challenging task of rescuing the ferry from the bottom of the Padma River has been made possible, said Abdus Salam, additional director of BIWTA.

When the ferry sank in the Padma, it went underwater due to the strong current and overturned at the bottom of the river. 

In this situation, the weight of the ferry had increased due to silt in the last week, gaining almost 60 tons – from 240 tons to 300 tons. 

As a result, when rescue ships Hamza and Rustom failed to lift the ferry, two days after the incident, the rescue ship Prottoy was added to the rescue work.

The rescue ship has a capacity of 250 tons which is why the rescue operation took a little longer. In order to retrieve this ferry, various techniques were adopted including the removal of silt and straightening of the ferry, said the BIWTA official. 

BIWTC Aricha Office Deputy General Manager (Commercial) Shah Mohammad Khaled Newaz said the ferry was being cleaned in the area on Thursday morning.

Lieutenant Shah Poran Emon, the head of the Navy's diving team that conducted the rescue operations, said that due to heavy currents in the river, fog and chilling cold, the rescue operations were hampered.

Finally, after facing various situations, it was possible to salvage the ferry from the bottom of the river through teamwork, he added.

Meanwhile, the body of the crew member who had gone missing after the ferry’s capsize was recovered on Monday from the Bahadurpur area of Harirampur, about 13km away from the accident spot.

Fire service personnel recovered the body of Humayun Kabir, second engine master of the Rajanigandha ferry in Paturia upazila of Manikganj, six days after the accident.