At least 32 people were killed and several dozen went missing after a ferry, packed with passengers, capsized and sank on Sunday, 25 September, in the Korota river in North-Western Bangladesh, news agency Reuters has reported.
Local police official Shafiqul Islam told news agency AFP that 32 deaths had been confirmed so far, most of them being women and children.
Meanwhile, Jahurul Islam, the district administrator of northern Panchagarh, where the accident occurred, said that the rescue operation for the missing is underway.
"Firefighters and divers are searching for more bodies."Shafiqul Islam, local police official
The boat was carrying about 50 Hindu devotees to centuries-old Bodeshwari Temple. The devotees were travelling to the temple on the occasion of Mahalaya, the auspicious start of the Durga Puja festival.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued statements condoling the Sunday's incident while local officials were asked to take steps for survivors treatment and compensation for the dead.
Thirty-seven people had died in December last year, when a ferry hit a cargo ship and sank, news agency ANI had reported.
Meanwhile, 85 people drowned in November last year when an overloaded triple-decker ferry capsized on the Bhola Island.
Hundreds of people reportedly die every year in ferry accidents in Bangladesh, a low-lying country on the course of rivers Ganga and Brahmaputra. Besides, the country is crisscrossed by 230 rivers, rendering it an extensive network of inland waterways.
However, lax safety standards and overloading have made such accidents a common sight.
Naval officials have claimed that 95 percent of the thousands of small and medium-sized boats do not meet the minimum safety regulations in Bangladesh, ANI reported.
(With inputs from AFP, Reuters, PTI, and ANI.)
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