DHAKA: At least 15 people have died after a river ferry carrying about 100 passengers capsized in central Bangladesh after being hit by a cargo vessel.
A rescue operation is under way but it was not clear how many people were missing.
The ferry was struck by the cargo vessel at the Daulatdia-Paturia crossing on the Padma River, fire department official Shahzadi Begum said.
Rescue teams were deployed and passing boats were helping in the operation, he added.
The site is 25 miles north-west of Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital. Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, an impoverished South Asian nation that is criss-crossed by more than 130 rivers.
The ferry was submerged at a depth of up to 20ft, according to Inspector Zihad Mia, who is overseeing the rescue operation.
By late afternoon, at least 15 bodies, including five children, had been recovered, Mr Mia said.
He added that officials had yet to determine how many passengers were missing. Ferries in Bangladesh usually do not maintain formal passenger lists.
"We don't have a clear picture about how many were exactly in the ferry when it sank," Mr Mia said. "But I think many have survived."
A passenger who survived said many people got trapped inside when the ferry sank.
"The passengers who were on the deck have survived but many who were inside got trapped," Hafizur Rahman Sheikh was quoted as saying by the Prothom Alo newspaper.
Mr Sheikh said the cargo vessel hit the middle of the ferry.
The Padma is one of the largest rivers in Bangladesh, where overcrowding and poor safety standards are often blamed for ferry disasters.
Last August, a ferry with a capacity of 85 passengers was found to be carrying more than 200 people when it capsized on the Padma near Dhaka, leaving over 100 people dead or missing.
The ferry's owner was arrested after weeks in hiding on charges of culpable homicide, unauthorised operation and overloading.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article