Dozens feared drowned in Bangladesh

Posted 8:53AM on Saturday 4th May 2002 ( 23 years ago )

DHAKA, BANGLADESH - A ferry carrying about 150 passengers sank in a storm in southeastern Bangladesh, and officials said Saturday that dozens were feared drowned. About 100 people swam to shore or were picked up by passing boats after the triple-decked ferry MV Salahuddin went down Friday night in the Meghna River, police chief Bakhtiar Alam said. Earlier police reports that the ferry had about 400 people on board were wrong, said Abdul Malek, a top administrator with the federal shipping ministry. He said the bodies of one woman and a child were found early Saturday. Passing boats picked up 60 survivors, while another 40 swam to shore, Malek said. He said rescuers were looking for about 50 people who were missing. In Bangladesh, ferries don't keep a complete record of passengers as many people buy tickets after boarding the vessel. ``We will not know how many people have drowned until the ferry is pulled out from under the water,'' Alam said. Hundreds of relatives of passengers on the doomed ferry converged on the scene of the accident Saturday, some joining the search with fishing boats. Salvaging the ferry was expected to take time as rescuers had not yet located it underwater. A rescue vessel from the state-run Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corp. was combing the site 40 miles southeast of the capital Dhaka. Another rescue vessel was on its way, officials said. The ferry sank nearly two hours into the journey from Dhaka to southern Patuakhali, 95 miles from Dhaka. The Meghna is a 130-mile river that flows south from northeastern Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal. It is an important inland waterway that is heavily traveled by river ferries. Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, an impoverished delta nation of 130 million people that is crisscrossed by many rivers. Tropical storms with high winds plague the country every summer. At least 59 people have been killed in the last week by lightning and flooding. The Meghna River has had some of the deadliest sinkings. At least 100 people were killed there when an overcrowded ferry was caught in a storm in May 2001 and sank. In December, two ferries collided on the river in dense fog in the southeastern Chandpur district. One of the vessels sank, drowning 80 people. Another ferry sinking on the river killed 224 people in 1986.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/202297