Bangladesh Passenger Boat Capsizes; 46 Dead

DHAKA, Bangladesh – An overcrowded passenger boat capsized in northern Bangladesh on Friday after being hit by a small ferry, leaving at least 46 people dead, police said.

Rescuers recovered 46 bodies from the capsized boat in the Daira river in Kishoreganj district, local police Chief Anwar Hossain said. The area is 50 miles north of Dhaka.

Hossain said earlier that 47 people had died, but he later reviewed the casualty figures and said the total was 46. The bodies included 17 children and 22 women, he said.

All the casualties were from the passenger boat, which was carrying more than 80 people, and there was no damage to the ferry, Hossain said by phone from the site of the accident.

Hossain said rescuers had thought earlier that there were still some passengers missing, but they found no more bodies by Friday evening when the search was called off.

He said the boat had been salvaged.

Some passengers managed to swim to safety, while several others were rescued by villagers, Hossain said

Police were questioning the ferry's crew, he said.

The accident occurred a week after a triple-deck river ferry sank in southern Bangladesh, killing at least 83 people.

Boat accidents, often blamed on overcrowding and lax rules, are common in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 150 million people.