The death toll from a ferry accident in Bangladesh more than a week ago has climbed to 469, including 100 passengers whose bodies have not been found.
By yesterday, 369 bodies had been recovered from the Meghna river where the 100-tonne ferry sank near the southeastern port of Chandpur on May 3rd, the official BSS news agency reported. Another 100 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead.
As investigators began recording witness accounts and gathering other evidence at the site of the accident, Bangladeshi newspapers reported today that the ferry could have sunk after crashing into another vessel.
So far inquiries have centred on the theory that it went down after being caught in a storm while carrying too many passengers.
The disaster has sent shock waves through Bangladesh, with the media continuing to question safety measures used by ferry operators and calling for a revamp of river transport - used daily by thousands of people in the delta country.
Some 3,000 ferries ply Bangladesh's hundreds of rivers and are a key means of transport. Accidents are frequent, with most blamed on overloading or unskilled skippers.
Between 1977 and the end of last year 2,221 people died in 249 ferry accidents, according to official statistics.
AFP