Dhaka, Sept 26 (dpa/GNA) – Divers have found more bodies, after a boat capsized in a Bangladeshi river on Sunday, officials said, raising the death toll from the accident to 41.
The engine-propelled boat, carrying more than 80 passengers, overturned on the Korotoya river in northern Panchagarh district when it was returning from a Hindu religious festival.
The death toll has gone up, as the divers found 17 more bodies in the river, after the search operation resumed on Monday morning, said Dipankar Roy, an official at the district administration, who is heading an investigation into the accident.
Seven of the bodies were found nearly 20 kilometres away from the accident site in Atrai river, in the neighbouring district of Dinajpur, he said.
Twenty-two women and 12 children are now known among the dead, according to a makeshift control room set up locally, to disseminate information on the accident.
Divers from the Fire Service and Civil Defence department, found eight bodies in different parts of the river on Monday, local administration chief Zahurul Islam told dpa by phone earlier in the day.
Dozens of people were still missing, and the search operation will continue, he said.
Deaths from boat capsizes are frequent in Bangladesh. Experts blame poor safety measures and the lax implementation of safety regulations.
Local police officer Sujoy Kumar said local residents had told him the boat was overcrowded when it sank.
Private broadcaster Sonomy television aired footage taken by mobile phone, showing how the overcrowded vessel suddenly sank, leaving the passengers in the middle of the river.
GNA