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The accident happened on Friday morning near the rural village of Jhalokathi in the south, 250 km from the capital Dhaka.
At least 32 people were killed when a ferry filled southern Bangladesh caught fire on Friday, police said, hitting an impoverished nation in the latest maritime tragedy.
The incident took place early in the morning near a rural village in southern Jhalokathi, 250 km (155 miles) south of the capital Dhaka. The ship was carrying about 500 people.
“The three-story Obhijan 10 caught fire in the middle of the river. We recovered 32 bodies. The death toll could rise. Most were killed in the blaze and some drowned after jumping into the river, “local police chief Moinul Islam told AFP.
Islam said the fire broke out in the engine room and then ripped off a crowded ferry returning home from Dhaka.
“We have sent about 100 people with burns to Barisal hospitals,” he said.
In a video circulating on social media, a ship was seen flooded by a large fire.
The accident was the latest in a series of similar incidents in the country’s river delta.
32 dead #Bangladesh fire on the ferry, injuring another 100. The boat caught fire on a river in Jhalokati State, Bangladesh, some 200 kilometers south. #Dhaka pic.twitter.com/zqtkfa5AnA
– Sandeep Seth (@sandipseth) December 24, 2021
Experts in the 170-million-nation South Asian nation accuse it of poor maintenance, lax shipyard safety standards and overcrowding.
Fires are also a common source of tragedy. In July, 52 people were killed in a food and beverage factory in Rupganj, an industrial city outside Dhaka.
At least 70 people were killed in February 2019 when the Dhaka apartment, which was illegally stored chemicals, caught fire.
At least 21 people were killed when a passenger boat and a sand carrier crashed into a lake in eastern Bangladesh in August.
The ship was carrying about 60 passengers when the steel bow of the cargo ship struck another ship near the town of Bijoynagar.
Divers had to explore more bodies in the muddy waters after the steel tips of the cargo ship and the ship collided, causing the passenger ship to capsize.
In April and May, 54 people were killed in two separate accidents.
Ships carrying sand are kept in shallow water and can be difficult to see in poor condition, especially in poor lighting.
In June last year, a ferry sank in Dhaka after another ferry chased it, killing at least 32 people.
In February 2015, at least 78 people were killed when a flooded ship collided with a cargo ship.
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