At least 25 people have died and dozens are missing after a boat full of Hindu devotees sank in Bangladesh on Sunday, a local official said, in the worst waterway disaster to hit the country in more than a year.
The bodies recovered so far included 12 women and eight children, said Jahurul Islam, district administrator for northern Panchagarh, where the accident took place.
“The rescue operation for the missing is underway,” he said, adding that the ferry was taking most of the devotees to a Hindu temple on the occasion of Mahalaya.
Islam said he did not know the exact number of people missing, but passengers said more than 70 people were on the boat, which sank in the Karatoya River.
A commission was formed to investigate the incident, he said.
Police said nearly 20 people were still missing, while some of the passengers managed to swim to shore or were rescued.
Hundreds of people die each year in ferry accidents in Bangladesh, a low-lying country that has extensive waterways and lax safety standards.
At least 34 people died in April last year after an overcrowded ferry collided with a freighter and sank into the Shitalakhsya River on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka.
Source: CNN Brasil
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