Karnaphuli-5 driver’s body found in Meghna

bdnews24.com :
The operator of lighter vessel Karnaphuli-5 has been found dead in the Meghna River at Lakshmipur.
Noor Newaz’s body was spotted in the early hours of Monday, Ramgati Police OC Rezaul Karim told bdnews24.com.
The lighter vessel, carrying fertiliser for Chittagong’s Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company, ran into trouble on its way to Baghabarhi.
It hit a goods-laden craft near Batirkhal of Ramgati Upazila in the early hours of Saturday. Police found three workers – Md Parvez, Mahbub Hossain, Jahidul Islam – trapped inside a cabin. A blood-stained steel range was also recovered.
The incident infuriated vessel workers at Chittagong, sparking an indefinite strike across the country from Saturday. The workers alleged that robbers had attacked Karnaphuli-5 at Batirshail of Kamalnagar.
They said seven among the vessel’s 10 workers were missing. The strike, called to press for security on waterways, left Chittagong and Mongla ports without workers to load and unload goods from moored ships.
It was however partially lifted on Sunday evening after Deputy Inspector General of Chittagong, Shafikul Islam met leaders of the Lighter Vessel Workers Union and convinced a faction about authorities taking action.
But the Karnaphuli’s charter owner, Abdus Salam Jahid, accused some of the vessel maintenance staff ‘Parvez’, sailors ‘Shamim’ and ‘Titu’, an unidentified cook, and ‘Titu’s guest’ who came on onboard, in the case he filed at the Kamalnagar Police Station. Kamalnagar OC Humayun Kabir on Sunday denied any robbery on Karnaphuli-5. He claimed that members of the crew had fought over the smuggling of fertilisers, after which seven of them went missing.
Meanwhile, the operator’s body has been kept in a morgue, he told bdnews24.com.
“We’re trying to find the others who are missing.”