A sand-laden bulkhead sank in the Buriganga river in Narayanganj's Fatullah area today following a head-on collision with a launch.
The incident occurred around 10:10am near the Fatullah launch terminal, said Sub-Inspector Jahangir Hossain of Pagla River Police Outpost.
He said five workers onboard the bulkhead managed to swim ashore safely. Besides, the launch also anchored at a nearby ghat, and all its passengers disembarked safely.
However, the rescue operation to recover the sunken vessel had yet to start at the time of filing this report around 2:50pm.
According to police and eyewitnesses, the Bhola-bound launch Bogdadiya-13, which had departed from Dhaka's Sadarghat, collided with the Sadarghat-bound bulkhead from Munshiganj. Subsequently, the bulkhead capsized.
Meanwhile, videos of the incident have gone viral on social media, showing workers jumping into the river to save their lives.
"I was crossing the river at that time. From a distance, it was clear that a collision was imminent as both vessels were moving along the same line," said Saddam Hossain, a witness who recorded a video.
SI Jahangir said necessary steps would be taken to recover the sunken bulkhead.