116 confirmed dead in Bangladesh ferry sinking
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-21 14:44

Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 116 people after a ferry capsized near the Bangladesh capital Dhaka at the weekend, officials said as the search resumed for scores of people believed to be missing.

"We recovered one more body late last night and 34 more this morning taking the number of dead to 116," Navy Lieutenant Commander Mahbubul Rashid, who is in charge of the salvage operation, told AFP on Monday.

The two-deck ferry capsized late Saturday when it was hit by a pre-monsoon cyclone in the Buriganga river on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Three Bangladeshi women mourn after recovering the bodies of dead relatives, following a ferry disaster near Dhaka. [AFP]

"Another salvage vessel has arrived and we have been able to lift the launch a little but there are still parts of the boat that we have not been able to get to," Rashid said.

"It's possible that there are more bodies still trapped inside," he said.

Survivors have said they believed up to 500 people had been on board the boat, although the official number of passengers was 167.

Up to 5,000 people, including many distraught relatives of the missing, gathered to watch the resumed salvage operation Monday.

The search was called off late Sunday after 82 bodies had been recovered.

"I know my brother was on board this ship so I believe he is dead," said one man, who gave his name as Aminul.

"I didn't want to go home so I stayed here all night. I will wait until they bring his body from the launch," he said.

Another man named Kabir said his elder bother and nephew had been on board.

"I have been here since 4:00 pm yesterday because I know they were on the launch. The search is very slow. It is like torture standing here watching each body being brought out wondering if it is them," he said.

Survivors said they had jumped from the upper deck and swam for the shore after the boat began to capsize in stormy conditions. Many lost family members in the dark and confusion, they said.

"It was very crowded. There were more than 400 on board, I think. There were heavy winds and the ferry lurched. It was chaos," said survivor Delwar Hossain who lost his 20-year-old daughter Beauty.

The vessel, the MV Maharaj, had been sailing from the capital to the central town of Chandpur.

Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain visited the scene Sunday. He pledged that new measures approved last year to reduce the number of lives being lost in the regular ferry accidents in Bangladesh would be implemented immediately.

The measures include modernisation of old ferries, extra checks to ensure safety certificates are up to date and monitoring to prevent overloading. They had been due to come into force at the end of April.

As part of the project, 11 weather forecasting stations are also due to be set up along main rivers.

At least 3,000 people have died in more than 260 ferry accidents in Bangladesh since 1977. A combination of rough weather and overcrowding is often to blame.

In the last major incident, 81 people died in one night last May when several ferries capsized in storms in southern Bangladesh.

The delta nation is criss-crossed by a network of 230 rivers with some 3,000 ferries providing daily transport for more than 100,000 people.

The government last year imposed tough restrictions on overcrowding in an attempt to reduce the number of lives being lost.

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