Bangladesh refloats ferry, 45 dead, 40 missing

DHAKA - At least 45 people died and over 40 others were missing after a twin-deck river ferry with more than 100 passengers sank in a storm in southern Bangladesh, rescuers said, after it was salvaged.

Rescuers retrieved nine more bodies from the salvaged ferry, raising the tally to 35. Another 10 bodies were recovered on Sunday.

They said they were hunting for more bodies in the river.

"We have registered 45 dead so far and hope few more are likely to be found in the river," a rescuer said.

But state-owned Bangladesh Television, quoting a private news agency, said a total of 56 bodies had been recovered.

The ferry, the M.V. Prince of Patuakhali, went down during a storm in the choppy Tentulia river at Galachipa, 350km south of the capital, Dhaka, on Sunday.

Hundreds of grieving people crowded the river bank on Monday searching for loved ones as a salvage ship with rescue divers arrived at the scene.

Authorities have deployed navy troops to maintain order after a mob became agitated with police and rescuers, blaming them for a delay in rescuing the ferry.

"We have located the sunken vessel, but strong currents are repeatedly displacing it, delaying the rescue operation," said TI Quaderi, commander of the rescue vessel.

"Scores of bodies might be trapped inside the vessel as the passengers usually shut the doors of the deck during storms," a police officer said.

A witness reported that 20 people had swum to safety or had been rescued by other vessels in the area, a transport authority official said on Sunday. The report could not be confirmed.

The vessel was registered to carry 80 people.

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.

- REUTERS