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| Tuesday, 25 May 2004 |
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B'desh hunts for hundreds missing in accidents DHAKA, Monday (Reuters) Bangladesh rescuers searched on Monday for hundreds of people missing in twin ferry disasters that killed at least 23, officials said. They said divers and volunteers were trying to refloat the ferries, which sank on Sunday on the Meghna river, as thousands of people thronged the river bank in a desperate search for their relatives. The double-decker Lighting Sun, which was carrying about 250 people, capsized early on Sunday. The smaller M.V. Diganta with some 50 people on board sank later on the same river just one km (half a mile) away. Witnesses said six bodies were found on the river on Monday, raising the confirmed death toll to 23. More than 230 people are still missing, many of them believed to have been swept downstream by strong currents and winds. "This is impossible to say exactly how many people have died in the latest accidents," said an official at Chandpur, 170 km (106 miles) southeast of Dhaka, where the ferries capsized. Witnesses said divers were searching for survivors who could be trapped in the upturned hull of the partially submerged Lighting Sun, which had been on its way to Dhaka from the southern Madaripur area when it was swamped by a sudden storm. Many of the passengers were believed to be asleep when the Lighting Sun overturned when it was hit by winds of up to 90 km (60 miles) per hour. The Diganta sank while sailing to Narayanganj, near the capital Dhaka, from coastal Gournadi district. |
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