By
Rebecca Gibson |
Rescue operations are underway after a passenger ferry carrying around 200 people capsized during a storm in Bangladesh on 15 May.
Miraj-4 had been sailing on the Meghna River from the capital city of Dhaka to Shariatpur when she was destabilised by high winds and rain. The vessel capsized and sank at Rasulpur in Munshiganj district, 27 km from Dhaka at around 3.30pm local time.
Local officials have been unable to confirm how many passengers were onboard the stricken vessel, but have estimated that the number could range from 200 to 350. It is believed that most of the passengers were city workers and students heading home for the weekend.
Police chief Ferdous Ahmed told the AFP news agency that around 20-30 people managed to swim to safety, while a rescue vessel from Dhaka reached the scene three hours after the ferry capsized. Around 22 bodies have been recovered, but rescuers expect to find more inside the vessel.
A navy ship, a salvage vessel and around a dozen speedboats have since been deployed to assist with the rescue operation, which is now focused on pulling the ferry towards the shore. However, the river’s width, depth and strong currents have hampered the search so far.
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.