By
Rebecca Gibson |
A ferry carrying around 200 passengers capsized in the river Padma southwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 14 August.
The accident occurred as Pinak-6 sailed from Madaripur to Dhaka in the Munshiganj district, carrying passengers celebrating the Eid-al Fitr festival, which marks the end of Ramadan.
As ferries in Bangladesh do not usually maintain passenger lists, it is unclear how many people were onboard Pinak-6 when the accident occurred. However officials from the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority in Dhaka estimate that the ferry was carrying between 200 and 300 passengers.
According to reports from local police officials, some passengers managed to swim ashore, while others had been rescued by locals. Teams from the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, the fire brigade and the army are searching for the missing passengers at the site.
The cause of the incident is still to be determined.
Ferry accidents are common on Bangladesh’s vast river network and are often blamed on overcrowding and poor quality of the boats, which are the main form of travel in some rural parts of the country,
On 15 May 2014, an overcrowded passenger ferry carrying around 200 to 350 people capsized during a storm in Bangladesh. Miraj-4, which had been sailing on the Meghna River from the capital city of Dhaka to Shariatpur, was destabilised by high winds and rain and sank at Rasulpur in Munshiganj district.