Dense fog deals blow to ferry services

Ferry services on two major routes were disrupted for more than six hours from the early hours yesterday due to dense fog.

Hundreds of travellers were stranded on both sides of the Padma river on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Shimulia-Banglabazar routes -- considered gateways to the country's 21 southern districts.

Services were suspended on the Paturia-Daulatdia route for around 10 hours and on the Shimulia-Banglabazar route for more than six hours.

The bitter cold and gusts increased the passengers' and transport operators' sufferings at the terminals.

On the Paturia-Daulatdia route, ferry services were disrupted since around 12:30am.

"My bus reached Daulatdia terminal around 11:00pm on Wednesday night. But it is now around 1:00am on Thursday, and my bus could still not board a ferry," said Selina Khanam, a Dhaka-bound passenger, travelling from Kushtia.

"We are becoming ill sitting inside the bus for so long. We cannot go out of the bus to stretch our legs due to the bone-chilling cold," said Rezaul Islam, a bus passenger travelling from Jhenidah towards Savar.

Monir Hossain, a truck driver, said, "I reached near Daulatdia terminal around 9:00pm on Tuesday. But I cannot board ferry till now [11:00am yesterday morning]."

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) is responsible for operating ferry services.

"We were forced to suspend ferry operations due to poor visibility caused by dense fog. As a result, the lines of vehicles became longer on both sides of the ferry route. A ferry was even stranded mid-river," said Mohiuddin Rashel, assistant manager (commercial) of BIWTC's Aricha office.

"The service resumed around 10:00am. Then we allowed passenger vehicles and those carrying perishable goods to board ferries on a priority basis," he said.

Currently, a total of 14 ferries are plying this route.

Speaking to The Daily Star, several passengers demanded increasing the number of ferries on this route.

An BIWTC official, requesting anonymity, also admitted that the number of ferries should be increased to cope with excessive number of vehicles.

On the Shimulia-Banglabazar route, ferry services were disrupted from around 2:15am yesterday due to dense fog. Services resumed around 8:30am, said BIWTC officials.

Besides, operations of passenger launches and speedboats were also halted for around two and three hours respectively.

"I reached Shimulia terminal around 3:00am. I found the service was suspended. I have been waiting here for around five hours to board a ferry," said Rifat Hossain, a Shariatpur-bound passenger from Dhaka.

"The fog was so thick that the ferry, launch and speedboat operators could not see even those objects that were close. That is why we stopped the services," said Mohammad Faisal, BIWTC manager at Shimulia terminal.

Over 350 vehicles were stranded at Shimulia terminal, said Md Zakir Hossain, traffic police inspector at Mawa zone of Munshiganj.

Our correspondents in Manikganj, Faridpur and Munshiganj contributed to this report.