Bengali authorities have announced that 24 people have drowned and dozens are missing after a boat carrying them capsized in the northern province of Panchakra on Sunday, September 25, 2022.
Buda city police chief Sogoi Kumar Roy told Anadolu Agency that 24 people, including eight children and 12 women, were confirmed dead after their boat capsized, and the death toll is expected to rise as the search for the missing continues. He added: The number of missing passengers will be announced after the end of the rescue operation.
According to the police and local administration, the boat was overloaded. It carried more than 100 people on the Kuratoya River, which passes through the city of Buda. Police said the boat overturned while it was going to a Hindu temple in another district of Panchakra district to attend a religious ceremony.
On the other hand, Suleiman Ali, a local official, told the media at the scene that the boat sank due to overcrowding. Bangladesh President Mohammad Abdul Hamid and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed their condolences to the families of the victims.
According to Bangladesh Shipping Authority records, more than 55 passenger ships sank between 1991 and 2020, killing more than 3,600 people and causing the loss of around 500 others.
While a mobile phone clip broadcast by local media showed the boat full of people suddenly overturned, causing the passengers to fall into the muddy river.
The video also shows dozens of people watching the boat 20 meters from the shore and shouting, and the weather was calm when the incident happened.
Johoor Islam, director of the Panchagar district in northern Bangladesh, where the incident took place, said: “The bodies found include 12 women and 8 children.” Thousands of Hindus visit the Bodhiswari temple in Muslim-majority Bangladesh every year.
This is the latest in a series of similar tragedies in Bangladesh’s rich rivers. The impoverished country of 170 million people has seen frequent boat capsizings as a result of poorly maintained boats and overcrowding.
Source: Lebanon Debate
