The death toll from a major ferry accident in southwestern Bangladesh rose to 56 as rescuers retrieved 12 more bodies from the overloaded triple-deck vessel as they continued their search for scores of bodies, the police said today.
"The partly sunken ferry was retrieved by salvage vessel Hamaza but the searches still continued for more bodies" feared to be trapped inside the vessel or in waters where it sank at Thursday midnight, police chief of southeastern coastal Bhola district told PTI over phone.
Administrative chief of the district Mesbahul Islam told official BSS news agency that 51 bodies were recovered so far with most them being children and women, but witnesses including local journalists said several more bodies were taken away by the relatives of the dead before those were counted officially.
In the morning, Bangladesh Inland Transport Authority salvage vessel joined the rescue operations in shallow depth of water in the Tentulia River at Nazirpur area of Bhola, the scene of the accident.
The triple-decked ferry, packed with 1,500 passengers on their way home to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha festival, had capsized at Nazirpur area in southwestern Bangladesh on Friday night after almost berthing at the coastal town of Bhola, 104-km from Dhaka.
The ferry MV Como was bound for Bhola from Dhaka when it tipped almost around midnight after reaching the destination with its rear portion sinking into the sea. The vessel tipped probably because it was jammed with people, sources said.
An investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the accident. Earlier reports quoting survivors said that the ferry had hit a river shoal as it suddenly tried to back off to prevent passengers without tickets from disembarking while they rushed to the other side of the ferry to jump to shore tilting the vessel which then partly sank in shallow waters trapping the victims inside.
A local journalist who witnessed the rescue operation said rescuers are searching for more bodies which are still believed to be trapped underwater.
"Most of the bodies were found trapped inside closed cabins of the ferry as they could not even jump to the waters," the journalist said. The government has constituted a five-member inquiry committee to investigate into the accident. The committee was asked to submit the report in seven days identifying the reasons of the tragedy.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, now in Port of Spain attending a Commonwealth summit, expressed her grief yesterday over the launch disaster and ordered speedy rescue operations and investigation into the accident.
