Dhaka: Authorities on Wednesday ended a salvage operation as 110 bodies were found, according to the latest official count, after a sunken ferry was retrieved from a depth of 21 metres, 37 hours after it capsized in the Meghna in Munshiganj area.
"The salvage campaign is being wrapped up... the toll stood at 110 and possibilities are bleak about finding of more bodies," Munshiganj's police chief Shahabuddin Khan told Gulf News.
He said relatives in small boats who joined navy, coastguard and fire service operators for the missing people in the river were withdrawing gradually though local media reported that several people still looked for their missing relatives.
Chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Dr Shamsudoha Khandker said: "The ferry has been salvaged and towed to the river bank... and 89 bodies were recovered so far,"
He said 53 bodies were found inside the Shariatpur-1 ferry, while 36 bodies retrieved yesterday were found floating on the river around the accident scene at the Gazxaria area of suburban Munshiganj.
The BIWTA chief's comments came as witnesses from the scene said a salvage vessel pulled the Shariatpur-1 upwards using a crane which allowed rescuers to look for more bodies inside.
Officials said the search campaign would continue as relatives in small boats joined the navy, coastguard and fire service operators with hundreds waiting on both sides of the river.
Identification of bodies
Relatives wailed each time rescuers brought dead bodies for identification. The scene took a grimmer look when a 10-year-old boy cried out "Here is my mother, here is mother" when a diver brought out a woman.
Rescuers made their way inside the ferry when the salvage campaign began yesterday morning after it was temporarily stalled on Tuesday night. Survivors said most of the passengers were asleep as the ferry sank while it was coming to Dhaka's Sadarghat Terminal from Sureshwar in western Shariatpur.
Officials earlier said the exact number of the passengers could not be confirmed as the launch did not maintain a register but estimated that some 300 passengers were onboard as it sank to the bottom of the river after being hit by a sand-laden cargo ship.
Most of the passengers were residents of Shariatpur who were coming to the capital to join works or for business purposes while three of the missing passengers were Bangladesh-born US nationals.
Local police chief Mohammad Shahabuddin Khan said many survivors were plucked from the water, while local media reported another 40 managed to swim to shore.
