26 drown as boat capsizes in B’desh

An overcrowded speedboat ferrying over 30 passengers and violating Covid-19 restrictions capsized after hitting a stationary sand-laden cargo vessel on the Padma River on Monday, leaving at least 26 people dead, a senior Bangladesh police officer said. “We have retrieved 26 bodies, rescued alive five others... but searches are underway for more as several speedboat passengers are feared missing,” said Ashiqur Rahman, a police inspector. He said the police learnt the driver of the speedboat was an inexperienced underage boy.

DHAKA: An overcrowded speedboat ferrying over 30 passengers and defying Covid-19 restrictions capsized after hitting a stationary sand-laden cargo vessel on the Padma River on Monday, leaving at least 26 people dead, a senior Bangladesh police officer said.

The tragic accident occurred at the old Kanthalbari ferry terminal in Shibchar region of Madaripur at around 8am.

The speedboat, reportedly steered by an inexperienced driver, overturned on the Padma in central Bangladesh while heading for Madaripur district from Munshiganj district.

“We have retrieved 26 bodies, rescued alive five others... but searches are underway for more as several speedboat passengers are feared missing,” said Ashiqur Rahman, a police inspector from a nearby ferry terminal.

He said the police learnt the driver of the speedboat was an inexperienced underage boy. “Witnesses and survivors said the boat was carrying over 30 passengers and the vessel was transporting sand on the Padma River near the town of Shibchar of Madaripur,” he said.