Eight people, including three children, died after a boat capsized following a collision with a sand-laden ship in a branch of the Padma River in Bangladesh. There were 46 people on board the boat at the time of the accident.
As per media reports, the incident took place in Munshiganj district at around 8.30 pm on Saturday night.
The Dhaka Tribune newspaper quoted officials as saying that eight bodies have been recovered so far, of which four have been sent to a local hospital. Two dead bodies including a child are on the banks of the river.
The fire department and civil defence resumed the rescue operation for the missing on Sunday morning, which was halted at around 2 a.m. last night due to bad weather and strong currents in the river. The people killed in the accident have not been identified yet. Among them are three children, two women and one man.
Bdnews.com quoted Munshiganj Superintendent of Police Aslam Khan as saying that the passengers of the Sirajdikhan had gone on a day-long picnic on the boat. The accident occurred while returning from a picnic. Aslam said that most of the passengers swam to the shore. Bangladesh is crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, with hundreds of people dying every year in accidents involving boats and ships. This is mainly because of overcrowding of boats and poor safety standards.
