At least 13 persons were killed after a ferry capsized in Sondha river in Bangladesh’s Barisal district on Wednesday, media reported.
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While some passengers managed to swim to shore, others were feared to have drowned in the River Sandhya shortly after the single-tier vessel set off from the town of Banaripara in Barisal district, police said.
Divers from Fire Service and Civil Defence department retrieved 10 bodies from the river.
In 2015, almost 69 people died after a boat collided with a cargo ship and sank in a river in central Bangladesh.
Akhteruzzaman estimated that 10 more passengers might have still been missing.
“Some 25 passengers were rescued or swam ashore as the launch sank near a terminal”, a police officer said.
The Wednesday ferry incident is the latest in a country with a lengthy record of river boat accidents.
He said divers had located the sunken ferry and would be bringing it in to shore.
Overcrowding is a common factor in Bangladeshi ferry accidents but little is done to improve safety even though the government vows to toughen regulations after every big accident.
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Previous year in February around 69 people died in Central Bangladesh when a boat sunk under water.
