At least seven bodies were recovered after an overcrowded trawler sank in a river in Bangladesh Friday with about 150-200 people on board, a fire brigade official said.
The ferry capsized in Payra river in Barguna district after developing cracks following a collision with a submerged island, Xinhua quoted the official as saying on condition of anonymity.
According to the official, many passengers were able to swim ashore after the accident at about 1.15 p.m. But the official could not tell the exact number of missing passengers.
As ferry services in Bangladesh do not maintain lists of passengers, no one was able to tell exactly how many passengers a ferry carries.
Earlier in the day, five bodies were recovered and two people were missing.
Low-lying Bangladesh, with extensive inland waterways and slack safety standards, has an appalling record of ferry accidents, with casualties sometimes running into the hundreds. "Most of the passengers were able to swim ashore," Babul Akhter, an official at the Barguna police station near the Paira river, where the ferry sank, told reporters.
There was no immediate estimate of the number of passengers unaccounted for, although two bodies had been retrieved, he said, adding that another vessel was on the way to help the rescue effort.
Most of those on board were heading to a religious gathering at Barguna, travelling from the coastal town of Kuakata, some 30 km (18.64 miles) away, Akhter said. "Cracks developed as the boat was overloaded, and ultimately it capsized," he added.
Last August, Bangladesh arrested the owner of a ferry that sank in a river, killing about 110 people, the first time such action was taken in a country where heavy loss of life is common in shipping accidents.
Saturday 14 February 2015
http://zeenews.india.com/news/south-asia/bangladesh-ferry-capsizes-seven-bodies-found_1546284.html
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