At least 18 bodies have been recovered after a passenger bus with about 50 people onboard plunged into the mighty Padma River in Bangladesh on Wednesday while it was boarding a ferry, said officials.
The accident happened at the Daulatdia ferry terminal in the town of Goalanda in the central Rajbari district.
While authorities have yet to confirm how many passengers were on the bus and how many are missing, local media reported that at least 50 people were on the bus.
The Fire Service Department said in an update that 16 more bodies have been recovered from the bus, while locals earlier recovered two bodies.
Among the bodies recovered from the bus are two children and 10 women, it said.
The fire department personnel pulled the bus out with the help of the rescue ship Hamza about six hours after it sank. However, the rescue work was hampered by rain.
The Dhaka-bound bus lost control while boarding a ferry from Rajbari and sank to a depth of over 80 feet in the river.
Several units of divers are still conducting rescue operations.
The fire department, citing residents and surviving passengers, said five to seven passengers were able to escape before the bus sank.
The accident occurred while people were returning to Dhaka after the seven-day Muslim Eid-ul-Fitr holiday.
At least 12 people were killed and 26 others injured Sunday in a bus-train collision in the southeastern Comilla district.
Source: Anadolu Agency
--Agencies
