RIO DE JANEIRO: At least three people died Thursday when a Brazilian ferry with capacity for 100 passengers capsized, local media reports said just a day after another ferry sank, killing at least 10.
The latest maritime accident took place in the bay outside Mar Grande, near Vera Cruz, in the north-eastern state of Bahia.
According to Globo and other major Brazilian news sites, three people were confirmed dead and 21 rescued, while local news site Bahia Noticias reported five confirmed dead.
It was not yet known how many remained missing or even how many were aboard the vessel, which served the a short route between Mar Grande and the city of Salvador. The local fire and rescue service told AFP that its units were still on the site and that it did not have accurate numbers yet.
Meanwhile, a search continued for dozens feared to be missing after a ferry sank in the Amazon region to the north.
At least 10 people have been confirmed dead in the accident on the Xingu river in northern Para state, which borders a long section of the Amazon river and contains several large tributaries.
As of Wednesday evening, only 19 people had been rescued.
There was no accurate passenger manifest, authorities said, but there were believed to be about 70 people aboard when the boat went down near Ponta Negra.
There was no immediate information about the cause of the sinking, although newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo said it may have been caught in a storm.
"Searches are continuing above and below water. It's a hard-to-access area and of the three aircraft we sent, one is there just to act as a communications base," Colonel Augusto Lima, from the Para firefighters' service, told Folha.
The victims who were rescued got out by swimming, Globo news reported, saying the boat went down about 500 meters (1,640 feet) from the riverbank.
Ferries, fishing vessels and large commercial ships ply the Amazon waterways as one of the main forms of transport in a region with relatively few roads. The vessel in the fatal incident had left the port of Santarem bound for Vitoria de Xingu.
On August 2, nine people were listed missing in Para state when a group of rafts and a container ship collided on the Amazon river.