An overcrowded ferry has capsized during a storm in northeast India, leaving at least 41 people confirmed dead and about 150 others still missing, police has said.

Divers and rescue workers with rubber rafts scoured the Brahmaputra River in Assam state early on Tuesday in the search for survivors amid the floating debris.

Women and children were among the passengers on the double-decker ferry, which was said to be packed with more than 250 people.

A police official told local TV network, NDTV, that the boat was carrying nearly 250 people, and about 25 passengers swam to safety.

An inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Strong winds and rain likely caused the accident, JN Choudhury, Assam state police chief, said.

Choudhury said the accident occurred near Fakiragram in west Dhubri district, about 300 kilometers west of the state capital, Gawahati, and close to where the river enters Bangladesh.

Hasnat Ali, a passenger, told local television that the boat was tossed about and many of those on the roof were thrown off and managed to swim to shore before the ferry was dashed to pieces.

I managed to cling to a log and was later rescued by local villagers, he said.

Over capacity

Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri, reporting from New Delhi, said that there were conflicting reports on the number of passengers on the ferry, with some saying that it was carrying more than 300 people.

She said that this is one of the worst ferry accidents in India.

Ferry travel is one of the cheapest forms of transport in India, and many staying in smaller villages do not have any other options for travel.

"What happens usually, such as in this case, operators tend to fill passengers much more than capacity," Al Jazeera's Suri said.

"The sheer number of passengers, combined with the hostile weather conditions in that area, resulted literally in that boat splitting up into two."

Another accident in the Dhubri district in the state last week claimed the lives of four women, she said.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, issued a statement expressing shock and grief at the loss of life.

Tarun Gogoi, Assam state chief minister, said Singh had telephoned him and promised to rush disaster-response units from New Delhi and other locations.

"Army, Border Security Force and other rescue teams with mechanized boats have moved to the site but nightfall and bad weather are hampering rescue efforts," Gogoi said.

Boats are a common form of transport in India's remote rural regions but accidents are often caused by lax safety standards and overloading.

In one of the last major ferry disasters in India, at least 79 Muslim pilgrims drowned when an overcrowded boat sank in the eastern state of West Bengal in October last year.

The vessel, which was carrying around 150 people, capsized in a river in the Sundarbans mangrove forest, 120km south of Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal.

PHOTO CAPTION

A ferry with some 250 passengers on board has sunk in a river in the Indian state of Assam.

Aljazeera