Death toll from shipwreck in northern Bangladesh rises to 67

Sep. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The death toll from a shipwreck recorded on Sunday in the Karatoa River, located in the northern region of Panchagarh, in Bangladesh, has risen to 67 after rescue teams have recovered nearly twenty lifeless bodies.

The authorities estimate that since Monday they have managed to recover the remains of another 26 people who had been missing since Sunday, when the motor boat carrying more than a hundred people capsized on its way to the Badeshwari temple on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Mayalaya.

Only on the first day of search and rescue operations, 24 bodies were found, although there are currently more than ten people unaccounted for, according to information from the newspaper ‘The Daily Star’.

The tragedy in this remote area of ​​northern Bangladesh is the latest in a series caused by overcrowding and poor maintenance of such vessels.

Witnesses maintain that the boat, with capacity for about fifty people, was traveling more than a hundred when the shipwreck occurred. The residents of the area came to help the passengers and then joined the police and firefighters. At the moment there are more than 70 survivors.