Boat capsize kills at least 20 in central Bangladesh

The boat was carrying over 100 passengers on a local route while it collided head-on with a sand-laden boat and simultaneously was hit from the backside by another cargo boat.

Representational Image.

DHAKA: At least 20 people drowned while dozens more are feared missing after an engine-run passenger boat capsized at the Titash river in central Brahmanbaria on Friday, officials said.

“We have so far retrieved 20 bodies the search for more is underway,” Brahmanbaria's administrative chief or deputy commissioner Hayat-Ud-Doula Khan told newsmen at the scene.

The boat was carrying over 100 passengers on a local route while it collided head-on with a sand-laden boat and simultaneously was hit from the backside by another cargo boat, media reports quoting people in the neighbourhood said.

“After the head-on collision our boat was hit by another sand carrying boat from behind,” a TV channel said quoting a survivor, who managed to swim ashore.

Witnesses said the boat sank in moments with screaming passengers onboard.