Manikganj: The death toll from Sunday's launch capsize in the River Padma rose to 69 with the recovery of 28 more bodies Monday morning.

A total of 57 bodies out of 69 were handed over to their family members.

UNB adds, meanwhile, salvage vessel 'Rustom', which reached the capsize spot on Sunday night, managed to pull the sunken vessel to the shore around 4am.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan visited the spot and announced a compensation of Tk 1.05 lakh to each family of the deceased.

Besides, Deputy Commissioner of the district Rashida Ferdous said an amount of Tk 20,000 will be given to each family of the victims on behalf of the district administration.

The launch, ‘MV Mostafa’, sank in the mid-river around 11:45am after it was hit by a fertilizer-laden cargo vessel, ‘Nargis-1’, while it was heading towards Daulatdia ferry ghat from Paturia ghat, said Enamul Haque, an official at Aricha River Port.

Local people rescued 30-40 of the passengers while some others managed to swim ashore.

Besides, about 50 passengers of the launch could not be traced after the incident.

Police arrested three crew of the cargo vessel - Shahidul Islam, Shahinur Rahman and Jahurul Islam - in this connection. The master of the vessel, Iqbal Hossain, went into hiding.

Meanwhile, the Mercantile Marine Department under the Shipping Ministry formed a three-member probe body to investigate the incident.

TF (Updated)