At least, 66 people have been reportedly killed and 15 others missing after an overcrowded ferry carrying Hindu pilgrims in Bangladesh, capsized on Monday on the Karatoya River near Boda town in Panchagarh.
A senior government official, Dipankar Roy, in the northern Panchagarh district, where the boat capsized, blames overcrowding for the sinking of the ferry.
Roy said a five-member committee is investigating the accident, with initial reports suggesting the boat was carrying nearly three times its capacity.
Panchagarh’s administrator, Jahurul Islam, while addressing a press conference on the disaster, said divers are searching for more bodies as some are still missing.
Islam said the “small boat packed with Hindu devotees on their way to a popular temple flipped over in the Karatoya River as onlookers watched in horror from the shore near Boda town in Panchagarh.”
The police, in its report, said there were over 80 people on board the ferry which had a capacity of carrying 20 to 30 people.
Boda police chief Sujay Kumar Roy said rescue workers, including firefighters, navy divers and villagers, were still searching for miles downstream on the river.