The owner of a Bangladesh ferry that sank earlier this month with more than 100 people dead or missing was arrested on Wednesday after weeks in hiding, officials said.
Forces from the anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion raided a house in Chittagong, where the suspect Abu Bakar Siddique had been hiding since the overloaded ferry M.V. Pinak sank on August 4, said commander Lt. Col. Miftah Uddin Ahmed.
Siddique faces charges of culpable homicide, unauthorised operation and overloading. Forty-eight bodies have been recovered so far and about 60 others remain missing and are presumed dead. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
The ferry had a capacity of 85 passengers but was carrying more than 200 when it capsized in Padma river in Munshiganj district near Dhaka.
The vessel’s captain and four others are also facing similar charges and are on the run too.
