Bangladesh ferry capsizes, death toll rises to 28

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NEW DELHI (PNA/ITAR-TASS) — The death toll of the ferry crash rose to 28 people. The ferry sank in the Meghna River around Munshiganj on Thursday, BDNews reported.

At least 100 people were still missing. The rescue operation continues. Bangladesh police believes that among the passengers of the sunken ferry, who were missing, were no survivors.

“It’s been more than 20 hours after the crash, and no chance of finding survivors,” said the representative of the local police Saiful Hassan Badal.

The ferry Miraj- 4 with 200 passengers on board capsized on May 15 at 15:30 local time (18:00 GMT). About 50 people reached the shore on their own. The fate of others is still unknown. The number of casualties could rise.

According to the passengers the ferry was overcrowded, what could cause a tragedy, however, the official reasons of the wreck is not yet known.

This is the second incident in Bangladesh since early May. The ferry with 60 passengers on board sank on the river Golachipa May 3, 15 people died.

Such accidents are quite often in Bangladesh, where the ships’ owners and passengers ignore basic safety rules. The major part of similar ferries is often overloaded. Each year, several hundreds of people die in similar accidents.

In addition, water transport is one of the main in this country, the major part of which (up to 70 percent) each year results flooded after monsoon rainfalls and cyclones.