Disasters & Accidents

At least 27 dead as boat capsizes in Bangladesh

Dhaka, June 29 (efe-epa).- At least 27 people died on Monday as a boat carrying 50 passengers capsized in Bangladesh’s Buriganga river, near the country’s capital city of Dhaka.

The vessel, Morning Bird, capsized around 10am local time after colliding with another boat, the country’s River Police Inspector Lutfar Rahman informed EFE.

“We have found 27 bodies so far and the rescue operation is still going on,” said Abdul Khaleq, a senior staff officer of Fire Service and Civil Defense.

The authorities are yet to provide details about the incident or information about the remaining passengers that were aboard.

“We have so far received 11 bodies and are looking for missing passengers. We are not sure exactly how many people are missing,” deputy director of fire service and civil defense, Debashish Bardhan, said.

“We have found the launch already. We are afraid there could be more bodies. We are working to rescue it now. We have river police working with us,” he added.

The accident took place in one of the major navigable rivers of the country, flowing past the outskirts of the capital.

The highly polluted Buriganga river forms a part of the main waterway connecting Dhaka with other parts of the country.

Boat accidents occur frequently in Bangladesh, where hundreds of waterways, including the Ganges Delta rivers Brahmaputra, Padma and Meghna, are commonly used for transport.

In most cases, the mishaps can be attributed to overloading and the poor condition of the vessel.

However, such incidents have considerably reduced over the years due to improvements in weather forecasting and implementation of new safety regulations. EFE-EPA

am-igr/sk/sc

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