Bangladesh ferry with 100 passengers sinks; at least 7 dead

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) – A river ferry carrying about 100 passengers capsized in central Bangladesh on Sunday, killing at least seven people, officials said. A rescue operation was underway, but it was not clear exactly how many people were missing.

The ferry was reportedly hit by a cargo vessel at the Daulatdia-Paturia crossing on the Padma River on Sunday afternoon, said fire department official Shahzadi Begum. Rescue teams were deployed and passing boats were helping in the operation, he said.

The site is 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital. Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, an impoverished South Asian nation that is crisscrossed by more than 130 rivers.

The ferry was submerged at a depth of up to 6 meters (20 feet), said Inspector Zihad Mia, who is overseeing the rescue operation.

``Our divers have recovered six bodies from the sunken ferry, while another body of a child was retrieved earlier by local people,'' Mia said by phone from the scene.

He said officials had yet to determine how many passengers were missing. Ferries in Bangladesh usually do not maintain formal passenger lists.

``We don't have a clear picture about how many were exactly in the ferry when it sank,'' Mia said. ``But I think many have survived.''

He said divers would soon be deployed to determine the exact position of the ferry. ``We are trying to gather details from the survivors,'' he said.

A passenger who survived said many people got trapped inside when the ferry sank. ``The passengers who were on the deck have survived, but many who were inside got trapped,'' Hafizur Rahman Sheikh was quoted as saying by the Prothom Alo newspaper.

Sheikh said the cargo vessel hit the middle of the ferry.

The Padma is one of the largest rivers in Bangladesh, where overcrowding and poor safety standards are often blamed for ferry disasters.

Last August, a ferry with a capacity of 85 passengers was found to be carrying more than 200 when it capsized on the Padma near Dhaka, leaving more than 100 people dead or missing. The ferry's owner was arrested after weeks in hiding on charges of culpable homicide, unauthorized operation and overloading.