In one of the worst boat tragedies in recent times in Bangladesh,at least 35 people,including women and children,were killed and over 200 missing when a ferry packed with nearly 300 passengers capsized in a river Tuesday after a head-on collision with an oil tanker. Bodies of 35 people,including four minor children were retrieved so far, a fire service official said as relatives joined rescuers in search of missing passengers. The tragedy occurred in the river Meghna in the Munshiganj district,about 32 km south of Dhaka after the ferry collided head-on with a tanker carrying oil. Fifty passengers swam ashore or were rescued by nearby fishing boats and two other launches.we fear many passengers are missing, president of Inland Waterways Passenger Career Association Badiuzzaman Badal said. Rescue workers and Naval divers toiled for hours to bring back to surface the sunken double-decker ferry to bring out the trapped passengers. Media reports identified the boat as passenger ferry MV Shariatpur. It is feared that more people are still trapped in the sunken vessel and salvage vessel is making efforts to break into the trapped ferry, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said.
