Non-compliance of rules, lack of monitoring blamed

Non-compliance and enforcement of rules and lack of monitoring have contributed to the rise in launch capsize in recent years.
The authorities have also failed to crackdown on unseaworthy vessels during the ongoing pandemic.
Launch and boat accidents are common in more than 230 rivers across the country.
 At least 93 people have died in launch and boat accidents across the country in last eight months, according to a recent data.
Millions of people are heavily reliant on ferries for transport, particularly in the country's southern coastal region but the vessels have a poor safety record.
Experts blame poor maintenance, lax safety standards at shipyards and overcrowding for many of the accidents.
At least 22 bodies were recovered from Laiska Canal in Bijoynagar upazila of Brahmanbaria district on Friday after a Anandabazar-bound trawler with more than 100 passengers capsized in Bijoynagar after it collided head-on with a sand-laden trawler around 5:15pm.  
 Among the bodies, 10 were women, eight were children and the rest one was a youth.
Hayat-ud-Doula Khan, Brahmanbaria's Deputy Commissioner, said the boat was reportedly carrying some 60 passengers when the incident occurred on a lake in the town of Bijoynagar.
    The cargo ship's steel tip and the boat collided, causing the passenger vessel to capsize, he said.
It was the latest in a string of similar incidents in the country. In April and May, 54 were killed in two separate boat capsizing accidents.
Vessels transporting sand sit low in the water and can be hard to see in choppy conditions, particularly when light is poor.
So far 11 Rohingya bodies were recovered from the coast of Sandwip upazila of Chattogram on 14 August following the boat capsize.
In May, at least 26 people were killed when a speedboat packed with passengers collided with a vessel transporting sand on the Padma river.
In April, more than 32 people died when a packed ferry with around 50 passengers hurrying home from Narayanganj ahead of an impending coronavirus lockdown collided with a larger cargo vessel.
However, officials of the Department of Shipping said the accused cargo vessel was MV SKL-3 was on the river illegally as it had yet to receive clearance from the Department of Shipping.
In June last year, a ferry sank in Dhaka after it was hit from behind by another ferry, killing at least 32 people.
In February 2015, at least 78 people died when an overcrowded ship collided with a cargo boat in a central Bangladesh river.
Experts blame poor maintenance, lax safety standards at shipyards and overcrowding for many of the deadly incidents.
A high official Department of Shipping preferred anonymity told the Daily Observer on Sunday that   deadly accidents are common because of unskilled operation and poor enforcement of safety rules.