The small boat packed with mostly women and children on their way to a popular temple flipped over in the Karatoya river on Sunday as onlookers screamed in horror from the shore near Boda town in the northern Panchagarh district.
“Twenty five people are still missing,” district magistrate Dipankar Roy told Anadolu news agency, while also confirming the death toll, Al Jazeera reported.
On duty emergency officials told Anadolu that the rescue operation was suspended for Monday night and will resume Tuesday morning.
District police chief Sirajul Huda earlier said seven bodies were found in the river. Police said the boat was carrying around 90 people, more than 50 being Hindu pilgrims on their way to the temple on the occasion of Mahalaya, when Hindus make offerings to their ancestors.
“It was carrying three times its capacity. There were heavy rains in the morning and that is why when the ferrying began, pilgrims packed the boat to make it quickly to the temple,” Huda said.
“The boatman asked some people to disembark in an effort to ease the weight-load. But no one listened,” he added.
The bodies recovered so far included 16 women and 10 children, said Jahurul Islam, district administrator of Panchagarh. He said the authorities were compiling the list of the missing based on information provided by the relatives.
A five-member committee is investigating the incident and they suspect overcrowding caused the accident, he said.
MA/PR
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