The Azerbaijan State News Agency

WORLD

AT LEAST 56 DEAD IN BANGLADESH FERRY ACCIDENT

12.12.2009 [23:09]
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Baku, 12 December (AZERTAC). Officials in Bangladesh have raised the death toll to 56 from Friday`s capsizing of an overcrowded ferry boat, VOA reports.

A rescue ship righted the upside-down ferry Sunday, more than 36 hours after it capsized. Rescue workers are searching for those trapped in the ferry`s cabins but they fear they will find more bodies, not survivors.

The ferry, which had a capacity of 650 passengers, was carrying more than 1,500 people when it sank late Friday on the Tetulia River near the town of Nazirpur on Bhola island, some 150 kilometers south of the capital, Dhaka.

Survivors said the boat ran aground as it approached the dock and began taking on water. The ferry tipped over as passengers scrambled to abandon ship.

Officials say many of those on board were going home for the Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha.

Police say the majority of those killed were women and children.