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Dhaka – Shawwal 06, 1428/ October 17, 2007 – At least 100 people were feared drowned after an overcrowded ferry capsized in southern Bangladesh yesterday, officials said.
Witnesses said more than 100 people, many holidaymakers, were trapped in the sunken vessel. The ferry with about 250 people on board was caught in a tropical storm in Shariatpur district, nearly 85 km south of the capital Dhaka, officials said. Meanwhile, a powerful rainstorm also killed at least 18 people in mudslides and house collapses and injured 100, officials said yesterday. A woman and her two children were among those killed in a mudslide at Betbunia in the southeast.
Weather officials said nearly 225 mm of rain fell overnight in Chittagong port city, severing road links with the Chittagong Hill Tracts further to the southeast. The storm originating in the Bay of Bengal made landfall around Monday midnight, a weather official said, adding more rains were forecast across the country over the next couple of days. At least 20 fishing boats were reported missing at sea, police said. Streets in Chittagong were under knee-deep water, forcing authorities to shut down offices and schools, a resident said by telephone from the city. Normal life was also disrupted at Cox’s Bazar, the country’s main tourist resort, following the rainstorm.