Ferry sinks in south Bangladesh

Rescue workers struggled to find survivors yesterday after at least 33 people died when a Bangladesh ferry overloaded with people returning home to celebrate a Muslim holiday capsized.

Weeping relatives jammed the banks of the river Tentulia in the remote southern village of Nazirpur and watched desperately as divers scoured the icy waters for victims.

"We have recovered 33 bodies. We believe dozens more people were trapped in cabins and in the hold under the water," local police chief Zakir Hossain told AFP in Nazirpur, 250 km south of Dhaka. "We fear they have died," he said.

The dead include 17 children and 10 women, Hossain said.

Officials said they were uncertain about how many people were missing as there are no passenger lists for Bangladesh ferries but they added it could be dozens.

The triple-decker ferry, which had a capacity of 665, "was overcrowded with over 1,000 passengers" when it started taking on water, Hossain said.

Survivors who were returning from Dhaka to their home villages aboard the MV Coco-4 for the three-day Eid al-Adha - the second biggest festival on the Muslim calendar - recounted terrifying scenes as the vessel began to sink. "There was no empty space in the ship. Every inch was filled with passengers," Mohammad Ripon, 30, who survived by jumping into the river, told reporters.

"People were running helter-skelter in panic. Then the ship tilted to the left side and I just jumped into the river," Ripon said.

Amir Hossain, whose brother and nephew were among the missing, said: "Everyone had come back to the village to celebrate Eid. Last night, as we waited for our eldest brother, we heard on the radio the Coco had sunk. "Our Eid is over," Hossein said.