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In Photos: Bangladesh's Deadly Boat Disasters

Poorly designed transport boats, negligent maintenance, recruitment of unskilled boat drivers, and the overloading of transport vessels are all leading to catastrophic boat disasters, which have killed thousands.
Photo by Anik Rahman

Located on the delta of the Ganges river, Bangladesh is a country of waterways. There are around 300 rivers in the country, which make up 15,000 miles of waterways in the South Asian nation, which is referred to as the "land of rivers." These waterways are used more than roads or rails for transportation.

However, poorly designed transport boats, negligent maintenance, recruitment of unskilled boat drivers, and the overloading of transport vessels are all leading to catastrophic boat disasters, which have killed thousands.

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River transport is particularly popular among Bangladesh's poor, as it is much cheaper than overland transport. As a result, most victims of riverboat disasters come from poor backgrounds, so they have no choice but to travel by boat. Many of those who require transport in the first place are the primary breadwinners of their families, as they need to travel to and from work. Therefore, those most affected by these tragic disasters are some of Bangladesh's most vulnerable. Many of those killed leave behind dependent and impoverished families.

An overloaded passenger vessel at Sadarghat Launch Terminal, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Overloading is cited as one of the reasons for the sinking of passenger vessels.

A local diver is giving signal that he has found a dead body of the sunken passenger vessel Pinak, at Mawa Ferry Ghat.

Rescuers have salvaged a dead body from Meghna River near Munshigonj, Dhaka, Bangladesh. This dead body is rectified as one of the passenger of a vessel named MV Miraj — which was sank at Meghna, near Bangladesh's Munshigonj, Dhaka. On that sunken vessel, 54 died and 250 more passenger are lost.

Two women cry for their missing husbands at the Mawa Ferry Ghat near Dhaka, after the sinking of the Pinak-6 passenger vessel.

A navy officer is giving signal to rescue the sunken MV MIraj -4 at Munshigonj, Dhaka.

Navy divers have recover the body of a dead child who was killed the MV Miraj-4 passenger vessel capsized on the Meghna River near Munshigonj, Dhaka.

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Locals gather at at Mawa Ferry Ghat near Dhaka, after the Pinak-6 passenger vessel sank just offshore as it crossed to the other side of the river.

A mother anxiously waits to hear news about her missing son who disappeared when the MV Miraj, capsized on the Meghna River near Munshigonj, Dhaka.

Rescue workers recover a dead body from the wreckage of the MV Miraj-4 passenger vessel at Munshigonj near Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Locals gather at at Mawa Ferry Ghat near Dhaka, after the Pinak-6 passenger vessel sank just offshore as it crossed to the other side of the river.

A women crawls on the ground at the Mawa Ferry Ghat on after her husband went missing when the Pinak-6 passenger vessel sank on the Padma River.

A dead body floats in the Meghna River 40 hours after the sinking of the MV Miraj-4 passenger vessel at Munshigonj near Dhaka, Bangladesh.

"Where is my mom?! where is my mom?!" a man cries on the bank of Meghna River. He was able to save himself, but not his mother, with whom he was traveling, when the MV Miraj-4 passenger vessel capsized.

Relatives are waiting beside the recovered dead bodies of lost relatives who were killed when the MV Miraj, sank on the Meghna River at Munshigonj, Dhaka.

All photos by Anik Rahman

Follow Anik Rahman on Twitter: @AnikRahmanBD