66 Dead in Ferry Accident in Bangladesh – Unique Times

At least 66 people died when a passenger ferry carrying more than 150 passengers and crew capsized after colliding with a trawler on a river in central Bangladesh on Sunday, police said. Rescuers managed to save at least 50 passengers and were still searching for more survivors, regional police official Harun-ur Rashid told Reuters on Monday. Low-lying Bangladesh, with extensive inland waterways and slack safety standards, suffers regular ferry disasters, with deaths sometimes running into the hundreds. More than half of the 66 bodies retrieved so far from the river Padma were women and children, Harun said. Police have seized the trawler and arrested the captain and his two crew, he said. “The ferry was recovered and there were 23 bodies inside,” Harun said. “There might be more bodies trapped inside the ferry and searching is continuing,” he said. Another 43 bodies were pulled from the water earlier on Sunday.

Denisha Sahadevan