At least 37 dead and a hundred injured when a ferry caught fire in Bangladesh

At least 37 people have died and almost a hundred were injured in a river in southern Bangladesh when a boat carrying hundreds of passengers caught fire, according to police sources.

“We have recovered 37 bodies.

Most died in the fire on the boat, while others drowned after jumping into the water, "said a spokesman for the local police.

"Almost 100 wounded have been sent to hospitals," explained Mohammad Zohor Ali, the administrative leader of the Jhalokathi region, where the incident took place. “We still don't know exactly how many passengers were on the boat, we have different testimonies from different people. At the moment we are assuming that between 700 and 800 passengers were on board, ”Ali added.

The fire, which has lasted about three hours and started around 3 a.m. on Friday, has swept through the triple-decker ferry, causing many people to jump into the river in a desperate attempt to save their lives, according to the newspaper.

The fire service of the city has come to the place in a trawler, while several neighbors concentrated on the river bank. Firefighters have warned that the number of victims may rise as the Security and Emergency Forces carry out their work.

The Deputy Director of the Fire Service of the city of Barishal, located in the Ganges Delta, Kamal Hossain Bhuiyan, has reported that it is suspected that the fire may have started in the engine room of the ferry and that, shortly after, the flames they allegedly forced the ship to anchor on the banks of the river in the Diakul area, near the Gabjan bridge.

Both the river transport authority and the Ministry of Navigation have created commissions to investigate what happened.

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