BANGKOK: Thai officials say searchers have recovered 18 bodies and are continuing to look for 12 people missing from a boat that sank in a river over the weekend.
The two-deck boat was carrying more than 100 Muslims on a holiday excursion when it sank Sunday afternoon on the Chao Phraya river 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Bangkok. The boat evidently ran up a riverbank then took on water, sinking in less than two minutes just a few meters offshore.
A Marine Department official said bodies were still being retrieved Monday afternoon, with 18 recovered so far. In addition to the dead and missing, 44 people were injured. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to release information.