RAJBARI — Dense fog disrupted vessel traffic on the Daulatdia-Paturia route between Rajbari and Manikganj, and on the Aricha-Kazirhat route between Manikganj and Pabna. To avoid accidents, ferry services were suspended at midnight Sunday. Ferry services on the Daulatdia-Paturia route resumed at 7:15 a.m. Monday, about seven hours later.
Ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route returned to normal at 9:15 a.m., after being suspended for about 10 hours.
Launch services on the two routes also resumed at 9 a.m. Monday, after being suspended for about 13 hours. The prolonged suspension caused severe hardship for vehicle drivers and passengers.
According to the Aricha office of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), ferry services were suspended for about 12.5 hours from the previous night because of fog. Fog began to fall again on the Daulatdia-Paturia route at midnight Sunday. At one point, ferry operations became risky. The Khan Jahan Ali, a roll-on/roll-off ferry that had left Paturia, was stranded mid-river around midnight in the fog and was forced to anchor. In that situation, authorities suspended ferry services on the route around 12:15 a.m.
Five ferries — Birsreshtha Matiur Rahman, Birsreshtha Ruhul Amin and Hasnahena at Paturia’s No. 3 berth, Dhaka at the No. 4 berth and Baigar at the No. 5 berth — were anchored, awaiting the fog to clear.
Similarly, three ferries — Enayetpuri at the No. 4 berth and Bhasha Sainik Golam Maula and Shah Makhdum at the No. 5 berth — were anchored at Daulatdia. About seven hours later, when the fog cleared around 7:15 a.m. Monday, ferries began crossing the river with vehicles waiting at both terminals.
On the Aricha-Kazirhat route, ferry services were suspended from 11:30 p.m.
Abu Abdullah Roni, manager of BIWTC’s Aricha office, said ferry operations have been disrupted at night for two weeks because of fog. After a 13-hour suspension the previous day, services were again halted from 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The ferries were anchored near the terminals. Ferry services resumed at 9:15 a.m. Monday, about 10 hours later.
Launch services were also disrupted by fog on both routes. Launch services were suspended after 8 p.m. Sunday to avoid accidents. They resumed at 9 a.m. Monday, after about 13 hours.
Md. Shimul Islam, traffic supervisor at the Aricha office of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), said launch services have to be suspended almost every night because of fog. This has severely disrupted the transport of vehicles and passengers. Launch services on the two routes have returned to normal since Monday morning after about 13 hours of suspension, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report