Who to rein in launches plying with faulty designs, engines?

The country's deadliest capsize of MV Nasrin-1 at the Meghna and Dakatia confluence in Chandpur in 2003, leaving 110 people dead, around 200 missing and many others injured, was blamed on overcrowding, poorly trained crews, faulty designs and flawed engines.

More than 18 years down the line, similar faults are detected for the latest ferry inferno, which killed dozens and injured scores more in Jhalakathi, thanks to the failure to tackle lax safety standards.

There was a lack of adequate fire extinguishers, lifebuoys, sandboxes, and buckets and there were many unofficially-kept diesel-carrying drums and cylinder gas cookers, which goes against sections 56, 66, 69, and 70 of the Inland Shipping Ordinance 1976 and its 2005 amendment, found a shipping ministry probe body in the primary investigation.

Non-compliance with safety standards still persists even though the shipping industry has thrived significantly, with modern ships joining the fleet over the years. 

In the last five years, at least 15 luxurious launches were built with an investment of Tk20,000 crore to facilitate commuting of passengers.

In launch tragedies, those responsible are hardly punished and defective ones continue to carry passengers, leading to one after another tragedies from a lack of enforcement.

Some 13 years after the MV Nasrin launch mishap, the High Court in its observation said the launch sank owing to a faulty design, unskilled master, overloading with passengers and not marking dangerous tidal points on the Meghna-Dakatia route. It also found that negligence of the authorities, including the shipping ministry and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), is extremely responsible for the incident.

The court issued a directive to punish those involved in the entire process of building the launch with a faulty design and its approval and sailing it illegally.  At the same time, the HC ordered the BIWTA to fix all technical faults, from design to fitness, in launches.

But Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) Lawyer Sharmin Akter said the BIWTA has not yet taken any initiative to implement the High Court directives. 

Besides, no legal action taken against those specifically mentioned by the apex court.

Victim families of the 2003 launch capsize have not received any compensation from the BIWTA and the owner even after 18 years.

Poorly trained crews, faulty designs and flawed engines are mainly to blame for most incidents of ferry capsize that took place over the past 20 years.

At least 1,500 people have died in 12 waterway accidents in the last 20 years, according to a study by the Coastal Association for Social Transformation Trust (COAST), a non-government organisation.

Around 70% of such mishaps occurred owing to non-compliance with global standards in constructing water vessels and faults in engines, Mujibul Haque, joint director at COAST, told The Business Standard.

Prof Dr Md Hadiuzzaman, director at Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Buet, said scientific and international methods of building and designing ships and launches are not followed in Bangladesh. 

This year alone, at least 158 people died and 88 were injured in 64 riverway mishaps as of December, according to ARI data. 

Hadiuzzaman, the length, width, draft (underwater part of the ship) and height of a launch needs to be maintained proportionately and scientifically as per the global standards. Water will not enter the vessel, built in compliance with the standards, even if it drifts at a 40 degree angle. 

"But water enters launches built in Bangladesh if they drift only at a 15-18 degree angle," he added.

"We have come to know that MV Obhijan-10 had flaws in its designs and its engine was defective too," he noted.

He said most launches in the country were being built with faulty designs. However, no action is taken against those involved.

The negligence of owners and operators or the authorities concerned often comes up in investigations of such accidents. There is a provision of compensation, but they in most cases are getting away with fines, he pointed out.

A source in the Unnayan Dhara Trust said since 1972, there have been 20,000 cases of waterway accidents, but only 200 have been disposed of. And none of those responsible were punished in these cases. 

Only in the case of the MV Nasrin capsize, a court order came for compensation, but it was not implemented.

Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS) secretary general Mozammel Haque Chowdhury told TBS, "We see irregularities in every step, from securing permission for design to route permit."

"We cannot prevent launch accidents if such irregularities are not curbed," he noted.

Former law minister  Barrister Shafique Ahmed told TBS, "In 2018, the High Court had given a landmark verdict to prevent launch accidents. I do not think anyone in the government has taken that verdict into cognisance."

According to a recent study by COAST, only 13,000 out of 35,000 vessels operating on inland waterways are registered. Of the passenger vessels, only 850 to 900 were tested for fitness.

Secretary to the shipping ministry Mohammad Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury told TBS that the BIWTA supervises ships and launches and they do everything according to the law.