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At least 28 people have been killed and scores are missing following a ferry accident in the south of Bangladesh.
MV Coco-4, which was carrying more than 1,000 people, was travelling overnight from Dhaka, the capital, to Bhola island on the country's southern tip when it sank close to the village of Nazirpura.
"We have recovered 28 bodies. We believe dozens more people were trapped under the water and we fear they are dead," Mejbahul Islam, a district administrator, told the AFP news agency from the village, which lies 250 kilometers south of Dhaka.
Local media reported the ferry started taking in water after it hit a raised section of the river bed in heavy fog on Friday.
Amid the commotion of hundreds of passengers trying to disembark, a stampede ensued which caused the ferry to tip and take in water.
"Many passengers have managed to land safely. But we believe some others who were staying in the cabins were trapped under water."
Many trapped
Police, fire brigade and volunteers rushed to Nazirpura to rescue the people still under water.
"It tilted and part of it sank due to crowd pressure as it arrived near the Nazirpur river station," Zakir Hossain, a local police officer, told AFP.
Abdullah al-Islam, a local politician, said authorities were sending a salvage vessel to bring the boat to shore.
"Until we can lift the sunken side, we can't know how many were trapped inside," he said.
An official said divers had rescued more than 100 people from the submerged part of the vessel, managing to prize open lower cabins.
Some of those rescued were in critical condition in hospital.
Overcrowding
MV Coco-4 is a three-storey ferry and one of Bangladesh's largest inland vessels.
The passengers were going to their village homes to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Nicolas Haque, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Bangladesh, quoting police officers who were on board, said the boat was heavily overcrowded when it sank.
"Ferry accidents happen a lot in Bangladesh and that's partly to do with the fact that ferries are old and burdened with so many passengers that board the ship," he said.
"But [they happen] also because the currents are much stronger now because the river intensity has increased."
A witness said: "People were trying desperately to reach home before the Eid prayers on Saturday morning. They even found themselves room in the ferry's luggage holds."
Poor safety standards also add to the high frequency of boat and ferry accidents in the country, which is criss-crossed by a network of 230 rivers.
Experts say most of the 2,000 large- and medium-sized ferries which ply the rivers are built in local dockyards without proper safety checks.
PHOTO CAPTION
Villagers gather at the riverside to inspect a capsized ferry in the village of Bhola, some 255 km south of Dhaka, on November 28.
Al-Jazeera
