The boat capsized on Sunday afternoon after reaching the middle of the Karatoya River due to carrying more passengers than it was legally allowed to. Although many passengers managed to swim ashore, the majority of them remain missing.
Digital Desk: On Sunday,
a boat capsized on the Karatoya River in Bangladesh's northern Panchagarh
district, leaving at least 24 people dead and numerous more missing.
The incident happened in
the Maria Union Parishad neighbourhood of Boda Upazila's Auliar Ghat area (an
administrative region in Bangladesh functioning as a sub-unit of a district).
Hindus from the Boda, Panchpir, Marea, and Banghari regions were travelling
from Aulia Ghat to the Badheshwar temple to offer prayers on the festival of
Mahalaya, an auspicious occasion in the Hindu calendar celebrating the coming
of Goddess Durga, according to rescued passengers and locals.
The boat capsized on
Sunday afternoon after reaching the middle of the Karatoya River due to
carrying more passengers than it was legally allowed to. Although many
passengers managed to swim ashore, the majority of them remain missing.
Mohammad Zahurul Islam, the Deputy Commissioner for Panchagarh, hurried to the scene as soon as he received the information. 24 individuals drowned, according to the deputy commissioner, because the boat was overloaded with passengers. Women and kids are among the bodies that have been found so far, according to Islam.
The Boda police
station's officer in charge, Sujoy Kumar Roy, indicated that rescue efforts for
the missing people are in progress. Locals and rescued passengers estimated
that there were at than 30 missing people. To investigate the occurrence, a
team of five people has been assembled.
According to Rajiur
Rahman, the health and family planning officer for Boda Upazila, seven of the
24 bodies that have been found so far have been stored in the health complex.
More than 95% of Bangladesh's tens of thousands of medium- and
small-sized boats, according to naval sources quoted by news agency ANI, do not
adhere to the minimum safety requirements. However, millions of Bangladeshis
rely on boats and ferries to get to the nation's capital, Dhaka, or other
significant cities.
Earlier this year, a passenger ferry collided with a cargo ship
and overturned near Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, leaving at least six people
dead and a number of others missing.
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