Dhaka: At least 32 people died when the ferry was packaged in southern Bangladesh on Friday, police said, in the latest maritime tragedy to hit a low-blooded nation.
The incident occurred in the morning near the South Rustic City Jhalokathi, 250 kilometers south of the capital Dhaka. The ship carries around 500 people.
“Three-Floor Obhijan 10 caught a middle fire. We have recovered 32 bodies. The count of death may rise. The most dead due to fire and some with drowning after they jumped into the river,” said the Chief of Local Police Moinul Islam told AFP.
Islam said the fire was believed to come from the engine room and then tore the ferry packed with people coming home from Dhaka.
“We have sent around 100 people with burns with a hospital injury to the grounds,” he said.
The accident was the latest in a similar series of incidents in Delta Criss-Crossed by the river.
Experts in the country 170 million people blame poor maintenance, loose safety standards in shipyards and density density.
Fire is also a source of ordinary tragedy. In July, 52 people were killed in light in food and beverage plants at Rupganj, an industrial city outside Dhaka.
At least 70 people died in February 2019 when the fire ripped through Dhaka’s apartment where chemicals were illegally stored.
In August, at least 21 people were killed when a ship full of passengers and cargo ships which were sand-filled collided at a lake in East Bangladesh.
The boat was reported to carry around 60 passengers when a cargo steel bow slammed into other ships near the city of Bijoynagar.
Divers must explore more bodies in bleak muddy waters after the steel tip of the cargo ship and the boat collided, causing the passenger ship to turn upside down.
In April and May, 54 was killed in two separate accidents.
The vessels carrying sand are low in water and are difficult to see in choppy conditions, especially in poor lighting.
In June last year, the ferry sank in Dhaka after being beaten from behind by another ferry, killing at least 32 people.
In February 2015, at least 78 people died when a crowded ship collided with a cargo ship.