Dhaka: Police recovered the body of a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader from a branch of the Padma River in Ishwardi upazila on Sunday, 38 hours after he went missing when a picnic boat collided with a girder of the Hardinge Bridge.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the deceased was identified as Rakibuzzaman Rocky, member secretary of the Shailkupa municipality unit of JCD in Jhenaidah district. Khandaker Shafiqul Islam, in-charge of the Laxmikunda River Police Camp, stated that police recovered the body from near Aktater Ghat in the Charkurulia area around 10:30am.
Locals had spotted the body floating in the branch river around 9:00am and informed the river police, said Selim Reza, a schoolteacher of Charkurulia village. Rocky, along with two others - Md Liton, 38, and Md Wahab, 45 - fell into the river around 9:15pm on Friday when a boat carrying 123 passengers collided with a girder near Pillar No. 5 of the Hardinge Bridge.
Liton and Wahab were rescued alive, but Rocky remained missing. Despite efforts by fire service divers and river police, he could not be traced until his body was found by locals. The 123 passengers had set out on a picnic by boat from Katlagari in Kushtia on Friday morning and were returning at night when the accident took place.