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| Sunday, 6 April 2003 |
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60 dead in Bangladesh boat accident At least 60 people, including 39 children and 20 women, were dead after a boat carrying workmen and their families capsized on a river in Bangladesh, officials said Saturday. "We have counted 60 bodies, along with those of children and women after they were brought to the Chhatak police station," Abdur Rouf, an official at the Chhatak administrator's office, told AFP. He said the boat carrying some 150 people collided with a cargo vessel and capsized overnight in the river Surma, in the district of Sunamganj in northeastern Bangladesh. Many of the passengers managed to swim to safety. However, the exact number of passengers onboard was difficult to estimate as the boat did not keep a list or issue tickets. Local police officer Monoranjan Das said 39 children and 20 women were among the dead. They were "trapped as they were under the low roof". Most of the men were riding on the roof of the boat and managed to easily swim to safety, he said. "The cargo vessel carrying boulders has been seized, but the crew had fled along with the boatman," Das said, adding a case had been registered as a probe was underway. Most of the bodies have been identified by their relatives and would be handed over after official formalities, Das said. Senior police and other officials arrived here early Saturday along with some relatives of the victims. Chhatak is a small scenic town 189 kilometers (118 miles) northeast of the capital Dhaka on the border with India. Ferry disasters are common in Bangladesh, which is criss-crossed by some 230 rivers. Some 3,000 ferries ply Bangladesh's rivers and are a key means of transport, although most of them are also dangerously overcrowded. In the last major ferry disaster, 13 Hindu pilgrims died when their boat sank in a river in western Bangladesh last week. Nearly 500 people were killed in one of nation's worst ferry disaster almost a year ago in Chandpur district when a 100-tonne Salauddin-2 vessel sank. Since 1977, more than 3,000 people died in some 260 accidents. The cargo vessel involve in the latest tragedy is thought to have been carrying boulders which are crushed in factories for use in construction work. The workmen were employed at one of the factories. Thousands of workers travel to Chhatak and nearby areas from across Bangladesh ahead of the winter peak season. |
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