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| Source: Online |
After a boat carrying religious pilgrims capsized in Bangladesh on Monday, rescue workers found 26 more bodies, bringing the death toll to 51 and at least a dozen people still missing, according to police.
On Sunday, a small boat that was mostly full of women and children and travelling to a well-known temple capsized in a river as onlookers screamed from the shore.
The incident near the isolated northern town of Boda was the most recent in a string of tragedies of a similar nature that were attributed to inadequate upkeep and overcrowding in the low-lying delta nation.
Fire department and navy divers found 26 bodies in the Karotoa River downstream from where the boat capsized, according to regional police chief Sirajul Huda.
According to police, it was carrying about 90 people, about 50 of whom were pilgrims travelling to a significant festival at a centuries-old Hindu temple.
Up to 15 people, according to Huda, remain missing.
"In the night, we suspended the search. Tomorrow morning, we will pick up our search again, he told AFP.
According to the police, the number of missing people has decreased as some people have reported finding relatives who had swum to safety.
Huda claimed that the boat was three times its carrying capacity.
"There were heavy downpours in the morning, so when the ferrying started, pilgrims packed the boat to get to the temple as soon as possible," he told AFP.
"In an effort to reduce the weight-load, the boatman requested that some passengers leave. But nobody paid attention," he said.
At least ten people, according to local media, were saved and taken to a hospital.
The overcrowded boat suddenly turned over, spilling the passengers into the murky brown river, as seen in footage from a mobile phone that Channel 24 broadcast on television.
Dozens of onlookers on the shore began screaming and shouting. At the time, the weather was calm.
Every year, tens of thousands of Hindus travel to Bangladesh, where Muslims make up the majority.
The largest Hindu festival in Bangladesh as well as eastern India, Durga Puja, began on Sunday, drawing a sizable crowd to the temple.
In southern Bangladesh, a crowded three-story ferry caught fire in December of last year, killing about 40 people.
After colliding with another vessel, a ferry sank in Dhaka in June 2020, killing at least 32 people.
Additionally, a cargo ship collided with an overcrowded ship in a river west of the nation's capital in 2015, killing at least 78 people.
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