The packed ferry catches fire in Southern Bangladesh. According to officials, at least 37 people perished when a crowded ferry caught fire in southern Bangladesh, the latest marine disaster to strike the impoverished low-lying nation.
The event occurred early Friday near Jhalokati, a small rural village 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of the metropolis, of Dhaka. Around 500 people were on board the ship.
“We have recovered 37 bodies. The death toll may rise. Most died from the fire and a few by drowning after many people jumped into the river,” local police chief Moinul Islam told AFP.
The packed ferry catches fire in Southern Bangladesh. Islam said the fire was believed to have originated in the engine room and then ripped through the ferry packed with people returning home from Dhaka.
“We have sent some 100 people with burn injuries to the hospitals in Barishal,” he said.
A video circulating on social media showed a vessel overwhelmed by a huge fire.
The accident was the latest in a string of similar incidents in the delta country crisscrossed by rivers.
Poor maintenance, inadequate safety regulations at shipyards, and overcrowding are blamed by experts in the country of 170 million people.
Fires are also a common cause of death and injury. A fire in a food and beverage factory in Rupganj, an industrial town west of Dhaka, killed 52 people in July.
In February 2019, a fire ripped through Dhaka flats where chemicals were illegally stored, killing at least 70 people.
When a passenger boat and a sand-laden cargo ship crashed in a lake in eastern Bangladesh in August, at least 21 people were killed.
When the cargo ship’s steel bow slammed into the other vessel near the town of Bijoynagar, the boat was allegedly carrying 60 passengers.
Divers had to search the deep muddy seas for more bodies when the cargo ship’s steel tip crashed with the boat, causing the passenger ship to capsize.
Sand-transporting vessels are low in the water and difficult to notice in rough conditions, especially in low light.
A ferry sank in Dhaka in June of last year after being hit from behind by another ship, killing at least 32 passengers.
In February 2015, an overcrowded ship collided with a cargo vessel, killing at least 78 passengers.
