These launch capsizes reminded me; in the year 1990, on a fine Sunday (14th January) - my dad, back then an employee of Tabani (Coca Cola), was in a launch that capsized in the place where the Dhaleshwari river meets Shitalakkhya near Narayanganj. Bhaiya was just a month old back then. My memory fails me, but if I am not wrong, theirs hit a sand laden barge coming in from the other river; and before he knew what was happening, he was already underwater, sinking in the icy depths of the estuary. Knowing that his best bet is in the window (as he explains it, a cabin has over 40 people inside, and one door - thus, there was no chance of making it out that way), he broke it underwater (takes a lot of effort to do it without being underwater), and managed to get out after a lot of struggling. But the worst part was yet to be over. You see, he was already underwater. And when he got out of the launch, he had no idea which way was up and which was down. If you ever went swimming, you will know what a frightening experience that is; having to play with a candid chance of survival. He took a guess. After what felt like an hour of swimming, he finally managed to break the surface and breathe, and as he puts it, there can never be a better feeling. He then managed to find a buoy with a group of gentlemen stuck to it; and swam ashore with them (they had to drag him half the way since he was so tired). He was one of the lucky few who made it out alive. Afterwards, he had to walk many miles to get to the nearest phone and call his office for help (I might be wrong, but as far as I remember, he walked all the way to Munshiganj from there). The fun part? My mom learnt about the accident many days later, not until he managed to travel to Mymensingh (grandmas place) to tell her the story :) I was born four years later.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 06:13:04 +0000
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