Ferry catches fire in Bangladesh; 37 dead

BANGLADESH: At least 37 people died when a packed ferry caught fire in southern Bangladesh on Friday, police said, in the latest maritime tragedy to hit the low-lying nation.

The incident happened early in the morning near the southern rural town of Jhalokathi, 250 kilometres south of the capital Dhaka. The vessel was carrying around 500 people.

“The three-storey Obhijan 10 caught fire mid-river. We have recovered 37 bodies. The death count may rise. Most died from the fire and a few by drowning after they jumped into the river,” local police chief Moinul Islam told AFP.

Islam said the fire was believed to have originated in the engine room and then ripped through the ferry packed with people returning home from Dhaka. “We have sent some 100 people with burn injuries to the hospitals in Barisal,” he said.

The accident was the latest in a string of similar incidents in the delta country criss-crossed by rivers.

Experts in the nation of 170 million people blame poor maintenance, lax safety standards at shipyards and overcrowding.

Fires are also a regular source of tragedy. In July, 52 people perished in a blaze in a food and beverage factory in Rupganj, an industrial town outside Dhaka. – NDTV