Twenty-three people drowned and dozens more were missing on Monday after a ferry capsized in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka’s Buriganga river following a collision with another vessel, rescue officials said.
“We have so far recovered 23 bodies from the sunken ferry,” fire brigade official Enayet Hossain was quoted by news agency AFP as saying.
Around 50 people were believed to be on board and some of them swam to the shore.
“The incident took place near Dhaka’s Shyambazar at around 9.30 a.m,” bdnews24 quoted the Fire Service Control Room Officer Rozina Islam as saying.
The victims include three children and six women, according to Rozina.
Divers from the fire service subsequently arrived on the scene and began the rescue operation with the help of the BIWTA and Coast Guard.
The boat, Morning Bird, was heading toward Sadarghat from Munshiganj when it collided with the Moyuri-2 vessel from Chandpur, said BIWTA transport inspector Md Selim.