30 go missing after ferry sinks in Bangladesh
A ferryboat has capsized in Bangladesh, leaving around 30 people missing, in the latest river accident in the country.
The overcrowded vessel sank in the River Sandhya shortly after it set off from the town of Banaripara in Barisal district, police said.
Some of the passengers managed to swim to the shore, but, according to police in the south-central city of Barisal, “At least 30 people are still unaccounted for,” and “no bodies have been found.”
The missing are feared to have drowned, police said.
Between 70 and 80 people had been on board the ferry when it set sail from the port.
The Wednesday incident is the latest ferry accident in a country with a lengthy record of river boat accidents.
Bangladesh is criss-crossed by some of the world’s mightiest rivers, including the Brahmaputra and the Padma, the main tributory of the Ganges.
Every year hundreds of passengers lose their lives as boats sink due to overloading and poor design or maintenance of the vessels.
Officials say most of Bangladesh’s hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized vessels fail to meet international safety regulations and are prone to accidents.
A ferry accident in February 2015 left 69 people dead after a boat collided with a cargo ship and sank in a river in central Bangladesh.
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