DHAKA, Nov 28, (AFP) - At least 10 people were killed and dozens are missing after a ferry packed with over 1,000 passengers going home to celebrate Eid-ul Adha listed and partly sank in southern Bangladesh, police said.
The accident occurred Friday after midnight as the MV Coco-4, one of the country's largest inland vessels, was coming in to a river station on Bhola island, local police chief Zakir Hossain told AFP by phone.
“It was overcrowded with over 1,000 passengers. It tilted and part of it sank due to crowd pressure as it arrived near the Nazirpur river station,” he said.
Police, firefighters and locals rushed to the remote coastal village about 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Dhaka to rescue the people trapped underwater.
“So far we have rescued more than 50 people alive by cutting open lower cabins. They have been shifted to a local hospital, with the conditions of seven very critical. Scores are still trapped underwater,” said police inspector Nazrul Islam. |
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