DHAKA: Rescue workers recovered 26 more bodies on Monday after a boat carrying religious pilgrims capsized in Bangladesh, taking the death toll to 51 with at least a dozen people still missing, police said.
The small boat packed mostly with women and children on their way to a popular temple flipped over on Sunday in a river as onlookers screamed from the shore.
The incident near the remote northern town of Boda was the latest in a string of similar tragedies blamed on poor maintenance and overcrowding in the low-lying delta country.
Regional police chief Sirajul Huda said fire service and navy divers recovered 26 bodies in the Karotoa River downstream from where the boat tipped over.
It was carrying around 90 people, of whom around 50 were pilgrims on their way to the centuries-old Hindu temple for a major festival, according to police.
Huda said up to 15 people were still missing. “We called off the search in the night. We will resume our search operation tomorrow morning,” he told media. Police said they have lowered the number of missing people as some have reported that they have found relatives who had swum to safety. –Agencies
