DHAKA, Bangladesh – At least five people were killed and dozens missing after a small ferry laden with passengers collided with a cargo ship and sank Sunday in the Chittalaksha River in central Bangladesh, in the latest waterway tragedy to hit the country.
Muhammed Muniruzzaman, a local police official, said five bodies had been recovered after the ferry sank as it was leaving the Narayanganj industrial zone, about 20 km from the capital, Dhaka, to Munshiganj.
He explained that among the dead were two women and two children, adding that “the process of rescuing the missing is continuing.”
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Police said they did not know the exact number of people missing, but passengers said there were more than 50 people on board, and some of them managed to swim ashore.
Hundreds of people die each year in ferry accidents in Bangladesh, a low-lying South Asian country with wide inland waterways but lax safety standards. Nearly 30 percent of the country’s 170 million people commute along river routes.
At least 26 people were killed in April after an overcrowded ferry collided with a cargo ship and sank in the same Chitalakxia River in Narayangang.
In December, at least 41 people were killed and dozens injured after an overcrowded ferry caught fire.
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