At least 24 people have died and as many are missing after the shipwreck on Sunday in a river in northern Bangladesh of a boat carrying Hindu pilgrims.
“Firefighters and divers are looking for other bodies,” said local police officer Shafiqul Islam, who confirmed that the bodies of 24 people, mostly women and children, were found.
The boat was carrying up to 50 Hindu pilgrims on their way to a centuries-old temple. She suddenly capsized and sank in the middle of the Karotoa River near the northern city of Boda, police said.
Another police official said as many as 25 people are still missing.
Local media said at least 10 people had been rescued and taken to hospital.
The images taken with mobile phones, broadcast by the Canal 24 television station, show that the overloaded boat suddenly capsized, throwing the passengers into the muddy waters of the river.
Long list
Dozens of people on the shores about 20 meters away started screaming and screaming when they saw the scene. The weather was calm at the time of the tragedy.
Thousands of Hindus from Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country, visit the Bodeshwari Temple every year. Sunday marked the start of Durga Puja, the main Hindu festival in Bangladesh, much like in eastern India, which draws huge crowds to temples.
This accident extends a long list of comparable disasters in this country of 170 million inhabitants, poor and crossed by many rivers.
The tragedies associated with shipwrecks are mainly attributed to lack of maintenance, lax safety regulations, and overcrowding on board.
Last December, more than 40 people died when a ferry packed with people caught fire in the south of the country.
The flames broke out early in the morning when most of the passengers were sleeping near Jhakakathi, a rural town about 250 kilometers south of the capital Dhaka.
In June 2021, a ferry capsized in Dhaka after colliding with another ship, killing at least 32 people.
At least 78 people were killed in February 2015 when an overcrowded speedboat collided with a freighter on a river west of the capital.
Source: BFM TV
