At least 19 people have died in a collision between a passenger boat and a sand-laden trawler in Brahmanbaria district in Bangladesh.
The incident took place at 5:45pm on Friday at Laiska Canal in Sadar upazila, Brahmanbaria Sadar Model police station Officer in-Charge (OC) Md Emranul Islam confirmed the matter.
Additionally, 15 more people were rescued and sent to the upazila health complex and 50 others managed to swim back to shore.
However, locals reported that many passengers of the boat were still missing till the filing of this report at 10:20pm. The boat is still under water while the law enforcers seized the sand-laden trawler. Identities of the deceased could not be known immediately.
Rafiq Mia, one of the rescued passengers, said the boat was coming from Champaknagar in Bijoynagar upazila with passengers to Ananda Bazar Ghat in Brahmanbaria town.
At one point, the sand-laden trawler coming from the opposite direction collided head-on, resulting in the boat being overturned and all passengers falling into the river.
Police and fire service personnel rushed to the spot upon receiving information and started the rescue operation. A team of professional divers was on their way from Kishoreganj as well.
Brahmanbaria Deputy Commissioner Hayat-ud-Dowllah Khan said the families of the deceased would receive Tk20,000 each for burial.
A probe body has been formed and asked to file a report within the next 10 days.
