Ferry movement on two of the country鈥檚 vital waterways remained suspended for over three hours on Saturday morning due to dense fog on the Padma River.
While there was no fog overnight, a sudden fog engulfed the river basin early on Saturday. As a result, ferry services on Manikganj鈥檚 Aricha and Pabna Kazirhat routes were suspended at 6:20am. The shutdown lasted until 9:35am, when ferry operations resumed, according to The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation.
In addition, ferry movement between Manikganj鈥檚 Paturia and Rajbari鈥檚 Daulatdia was also affected.
The fog caused ferries to stop operating from 7:20am at Paturia and from 7:30am at Daulatdia. Services on this route resumed around 10:15am, nearly three and a half hours later.
Aricha BIWTC assistant general manager Mohammad Salah Uddin said that there was no fog on the river overnight, and it was only in the early hours of Saturday that the fog became dense, hampering ferry operations.
At the Daulatdia jetty, approximately six ferries were stationed with loaded vehicles while four more ferries were anchored at Paturia.
Zaman Paribahan supervisor Monir Hossain said several buses, along with other vehicles, reached the ferry terminal around 7 am. Following the fog, authorities halted all ferry operations. As a result, at least a hundred Dhaka-bound vehicles were stranded at the jetty.