Dozens feared missing after ferry sinks in Bangladesh - gulfnews.com

Dhaka: Dozens of passengers are feared missing after a ferry collided with a cargo ship and sank on Sunday in Bangladesh, police said. It was the country’s second boat accident in less than a fortnight.

Survivors said the twin-deck MV Mostofa was carrying between 70-150 passengers when it capsized in the middle of the Padma river, local police chief Rakibuz Zaman said.

“Some 50 people swam ashore or were rescued by other vessels,” he added.

The Press Trust of India said rescue operations were under way at the site, 40 kilometres northwest of the capital Dhaka.

The vessel was reportedly heading to Paturia from Rajbari district when it was hit by the trawler.

The exact number of passengers aboard was not immediately known. Bangladeshi ferries do not normally keep passenger lists, making it difficult to establish how many are missing after an accident.

The Padma river is one of the largest in the delta nation. Boats are the main form of travel in many of Bangladesh’s remote rural areas, especially in the south and northeast.

Boat capsizes are common in Bangladesh, one of Asia’s poorest nations, which is criss-crossed by more than 230 rivers.

Experts blame poorly maintained vessels, flaws in design and overcrowding for most of the tragedies.

Earlier this month at least five people including a minor were killed when an overloaded ferry carrying some 200 passengers capsized in an estuary in the south of the country.

About 50 people were killed in August last year when a crowded ferry sank in rough weather in the Munshiganj district.

Some 150 people were killed in March 2012 after an overcrowded ferry carrying about 200 passengers sank after being hit by an oil barge in the dead of night.

In 2011, 32 people were killed after a passenger vessel sank in the Meghna river in Munshiganj district after colliding with a cargo ship.

At least 85 people drowned in 2009 when an overloaded triple-decker ferry capsized off Bhola Island in the south.

Naval officials have said more than 95 per cent of Bangladesh’s hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized boats do not meet minimum safety regulations.