Bangladesh ferry sinking soars past 100

14 March 2012 Last updated at 12:43 GMT Share this pageEmail Print Share this page

ShareFacebookTwitter.Death toll in Bangladesh ferry sinking soars past 100 Relatives and friends of those who died are now going through the painful task of identifying their loved ones
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The number of dead in Tuesday's ferry sinking in Bangladesh has now reached 112, with at least 10 passengers still missing, officials say.

Recovery ships have pulled the ferry close to shore and plan to refloat it.

About 35 people swam to safety after the Shariatpur-1 collided with a small oil tanker in the Meghna River, south-west of the capital, Dhaka.

Ferry accidents are common on Bangladesh's vast river network and scores of people are killed every year.

Officials say more bodies were found after the ship was pulled into shallower waters. More are still thought to be trapped inside.

Hundreds of people, including some desperate relatives, have gathered on the river banks over the last two days during the rescue operation as bodies were extracted.

Laws flouted

"The death toll has now gone up to 112. The ferry has been now been brought to the bank of [the river]. We are continuing with the search operation," Azizul Alam, a senior government official in the district of Munshinganj who is overseeing the rescue operation, told the BBC.

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At the scene

Ethirajan Anbarasan

BBC News, Munshinganj

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The rescue operation was extremely distressing.

Practically every time rescue divers returned to the surface they brought with them a dead body, which was then taken to the shore and placed before a grief-stricken and wailing crowd of hundreds that had congregated on the river bank.

It looks as if the sheer scale of this disaster has overwhelmed the authorities.

A crane deployed to lift the stricken vessel out of the river proved not up to the task, and there were then frantic efforts to use boats to tow it from the bottom.

The sense of chaos has been exacerbated by the lack of clarity as to precisely how many people died.

Police say that the final casualty toll could be as many as 200 people. But the true figure is never likely to be known, because the ferry was not carrying an accurate passenger list.

The BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan - who visited the scene of the disaster - says the river is about 4km (2.5 miles) wide with a strong current. The ferry is believed to have sunk in water about 21m (70ft) deep.

Our correspondent says it is not possible to say exactly how many people were on board, because passenger lists are rarely compiled on Bangladeshi ferries and many buy their tickets when on board.

Survivors say more than 200 people were on the ferry, which was going to Dhaka. Hundreds of relatives and onlookers are still awaiting news of their loved ones.

Some of the survivors said more people than usual were on board the ferry - which was also carrying a large cargo of chillies - because transport services to Dhaka were severely disrupted during an opposition rally in the city on Monday.

The ferry was reportedly travelling from Shariatpur district when the collision happened overnight on Monday.

Most ferry accidents in the country are blamed on poor safety standards and overcrowding.

Shahabuddin Milon, deputy head of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Association, told the BBC's Bengali Service that many cargo boats flout the law banning them from night-time travel, endangering passengers.

Last April, at least 23 people died after a ferry carrying more than 100 passengers capsized in the east of the country.

In June 2010, about a dozen people were killed after a packed ferry capsized in a storm in north-east Bangladesh and in November 2009, 118 people died in two ferry accidents within a week.

Boats are the main form of travel in parts of rural Bangladesh - a country that is criss-crossed by rivers and waterways.

The authorities are repeatedly criticised for failing to honour their pledges to tackle lax safety standards.