Launch Fire: Case Filed against Owner, 24 Others

A case has been filed against Hamzalal Sheikh, owner of the passenger launch MV Avijan-10, and 24 others with a Barguna court over the deadly fire that killed at least 41 passengers and injured several others, reports media.

The case was filed at Borguna Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court by Baliatoli union Chairman Advocate Nazmul Islam Nasir on Sunday.

Search operation in Sugandha continues

The search drive in the Sugandha River was going on for the third consecutive day on Sunday for tracing those who went missing following a massive fire in a crowded launch near Jhalakathi in the early hours of Friday.

The divers from the local fire service and Coast Guard resumed the search operation on Saturday morning, said Jhalakathi Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Khalilur Rahman, reported UNB.

No new body was recovered from the river till the filing of this report around 11:00 am.

Besides, the control room, set up by the local administration, listed the names of 25 missing people with the information given by their relatives and family members.

On Saturday, the bodies of 23 people were buried in a mass graveyard following a namaz-e-janaza in Barguna, UNB also reported. 

The bodies were buried at Potkakhali mass graveyard in Sadar Upazila around 12:00 pm.

The blaze broke out at 3:00 am on 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 incident climbed to 41 on Saturday night. Besides, over 70 people suffered injuries and many of them are undergoing treatment at different hospitals.