A cargo vessel collided with a ferry carrying dozens of people along a river outside of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, killing at least six people.
Rozina Akhter of the Fire Service said they couldn’t tell how many people were on board the ferry.
When the boat collided near Narayanganj, just outside of Dhaka, on Sunday, between 30 and 50 passengers were on board, according to local media.
The bodies of two children, two women, and a man were discovered in the water by firefighters and civil defence workers. A third person died in a hospital.
After the MV Ruposhi-9 inland cargo transport ran over the MV Afsaruddin, over two dozen individuals managed to swim ashore, according to police.
People shouted in terror and jumped into the stream as the boat soon sank, according to footage shown by local media.
Coast guard personnel and divers were assisting with rescue attempts, according to district administrator Monjurul Hafiz.
Poor maintenance, inadequate safety regulations, and overcrowding are all blamed for ferry accidents in Bangladesh, according to experts.
Between 1991 and 2020, more than 3,600 people died and almost 500 went missing in more than 550 accidents on Bangladesh’s waterways, according to official figures.
A ferry caught fire in the southern rural village of Jhalokati in December, killing almost 50 people and injuring more than 70.
After colliding with another vessel, a ferry capsized in Dhaka in June 2020, killing hundreds of people.
In February 2015, an overcrowded ship collided with a cargo vessel in a river west of the city, killing at least 78 people.
