Death toll from Bangladesh ferry sinking rises to 105

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Death toll from Bangladesh ferry sinking rises to 105

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The death toll is likely to rise as more bodies are feared trapped inside, a police official said.

14 March,2012 09:34 am

Recovery workers were trying to raise the wreckage of a ferry that capsized on a river in Bangladesh while carrying about 200 people, hoping Wednesdays efforts would reveal the fate of dozens of passengers still missing. The death toll stood at 102.The ferry collided with a cargo boat and capsized in the darkness of Tuesday morning, sending hundreds of people into the Meghna River, just south of the capital, Dhaka. Local police chief Mohammad Shahabuddin Khan said about 35 survivors were plucked out of the water, while local media reported that another 40 managed to swim to shore.The death toll climbed to 102 on Wednesday after villagers and rescuers found more bodies floating near the scene of the accident, said rescue official Mahfuzul Haque.The death toll is likely to rise as more bodies are feared trapped inside, police official Khan said. We will get a better picture of the casualties once the sunken ferry is pulled out of the water.Ferry accidents, often blamed on overcrowding, faulty vessels and lax rules, are common in Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 160 million people.Khan said a bigger rescue vessel, MV Hamza, reached the scene Wednesday morning and would work on salvaging the sunken boat. The ferry sank in about 70 feet (21 meters) of water.Khan could not specify how many people were missing but said many were feared dead. It is difficult to get a reliable estimate for the number of passengers as ferry operators rarely keep a list and most passengers buy tickets once on board.Some of the bodies inside the sunken ferry were buried under cargo, said Mohammad Alauddin, a diver who was among the searchers.Hundreds of anxious people, many of them weeping, gathered near the scene of the accident Tuesday to look for their loved ones.The MV Shariatpur-1 was traveling to Dhaka from neighboring Shariatpur district to the southwest. The accident site is in Munshiganj district, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Dhaka.Survivor Dulal Dewan described chaos as the ferry and cargo boat collided.I was awakened with a big jolt, said the businessman, who had been asleep on the top deck. I jumped into the river in darkness as the ferry started going down.In minutes there were screams all around, he said. People were shouting for help.Dewan said he was rescued by a nearby boat, but eight other family members traveling with him were still unaccounted for.Another survivor, Abdul Gani Akhand, was shivering as a rescue worker escorted him to a hospital. I was sleeping and I really dont know how I survived, he said.An investigation has been ordered into the cause of the accident, said Azizul Alam, the areas government administrator.