DHAKA, Bangladesh
Rescue teams have recovered two dead bodies from a ferry that capsized south of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Monday morning, police said.
According to Tofazzal Hossain, a police inspector at the Lauhjong police station, at least 110 people have been rescued from the ferry which was carrying 200 people
A rescue operation was underway involving divers, the rescue vessel MV Rustom, and a helicopter, said officials with the Bangladesh Inland Water Transportation Authority. The ferry capsized around 11 a.m. local time (0600GMT), officials said.
Rescue teams are struggling to locate the ferry because of the river's strong current, which the water transportation authority believes could have possibly caused the accident; the other possibility being that the boat was overloaded.
Dhaka, a city of more than 15 million people, is located in central Bangladesh, on the east bank of the Buriganga River. The ferry capsized on the Padma River, which is an extension of the Ganges River in India.
Deadly ferry accidents have occurred at least twice in Bangladesh in recent months. On May 15, a private ferry capsized in the Meghna River on its way to the southern district of Shariatpur with around 300 passengers aboard, 54 of whom died.
And two weeks earlier, on May 3, at least 15 people died in a similar accident on the Golachipa River in the southern district of Patuakhali.
www.aa.com.tr/en
