Bangladesh ferry with 200 people sinks

DHAKA - A ferry with about 200 people has sunk in a river in Bangladesh during a severe storm, police said, the second such accident in three days.

The MV Raipura sank in the turbulent river Jamuna just off Aricha terminal, about 100km west of the capital Dhaka, police said.

They said only 50 people had managed to swim to safety but strong currents had probably dragged the ferry away. The body of a child had been recovered.

"A police team is on the scene with a speed boat, but they have not been able to locate the ferry," police Sub-Inspector Ziaul Morshed told Reuters by telephone.

Government officials, who rushed to the disaster site, said they won't be able start rescue operations until Wednesday due to bad weather.

"A survey ship is expected by noon on Wednesday to start rescue operations," said police Inspector Mohammad Abu Yusuf.

MV Raipura was the second ferry to sink in Bangladesh in three days.

At least 60 people were killed and 30 were missing when the twin-decked MV Prince of Patuakhali went down on Sunday during a storm in the Tentulia river at Galachipa, 350km south of Dhaka.

Officials called off rescue operations on Tuesday for the MV Prince of Patuakhali, but many people said they would stay on the river bank for days to find their loved ones, dead or alive.

Zahirul Islam lost his wife in Sunday's disaster but was waiting for word about his 12-year-old son after the ferry was salvaged late on Monday. "I cannot go home without my only son," a local reporter quoted the weeping father as saying.

The ferry was carrying more than 100 passengers and tonnes of merchandise, rescue workers told reporters at Galachipa. The vessel was registered to carry 80 people.

Bangladesh has a history of ferry accidents in which hundreds of people die each year, especially during the stormy summer months.

But the exact number of people on board or of victims are never known because most ferries do not keep passenger lists or follow operational rules set by maritime transport authorities, inland shipping officials said.

They said much of Bangladesh's vast ferry fleet has little or no safety equipment, and operators and owners often neglect weather forecasts and shipping rules despite repeated accidents.

At least 118 people died in the last major ferry disaster, on the river Buriganga near Dhaka in February.

Tropical summer storms are common in Bangladesh and officials said at least 16 people were killed, about 200 injured and scores of houses damaged on Tuesday when winds of up to 90km/h swept through three northwestern districts of Natore, Rajshahi and Nawabganj.

About 80 people died, around 1000 people were injured and more than 15,000 people were left homeless in a series of storms in March.

- REUTERS