Dhaka, July 4 -- The terrible launch accident in the Buriganga River near Dhaka on the morning of June 29 stood out for several reasons. The mishap had almost all the commonfeatures that characterise water transport accidents in the country's innumerable rivers.

But a striking aspectwas its uncanny resemblance to accidents that remain limited to city roads and highways. A large motor-launch ramming into a smaller one from behind and causing the latter to sink with over 70 passengers aboard in a few seconds doesn't occur normally in the country. It defies logic as to what might prompt a driver of a launch to rear-end another, that too in broad daylight.

It didn't take long for thegrim truth to surface: the driver of the larger vessel, ca...