One person is unaccounted for while five others suffered injuries following a collision between a passenger launch and a fisheries patrol boat on the Meghna River in south-central Bangladesh on Wednesday, March 18.
The incident between the passenger launch Karnaphuli-12 and the unidentified patrol boat occurred near a quay in the country's Bhola district at around 20:00 local time on Wednesday.
According to reports, the launch was backing away from the quay at the time, which then caused its propeller to accidentally strike the arriving patrol boat.
The patrol boat overturned and all seven people who were on board ended up in the river.
Local residents pulled the patrol boat's coxswain and five other people from the water. The coxswain and four others were later brought to hospital.
Local news outlet Business Times reported that the coxswain was in critical condition while the seventh person who was on the ill-fated boat, identified as a police constable, has not yet been found.
The search for the missing individual was temporarily suspended on Wednesday evening due to poor visibility. The effort was resumed the following morning.
Divers from the Bangladesh Coast Guard and the Bangladesh Navy have also been deployed to assist in the search for the constable.