Six bodies were recovered as of last evening after a trawler with more than a hundred passengers on board sank in the Meghna River in Bhola’s Manpura upazila in the morning.
The six are Ayesha Begum, 70, Jesmin, 22, Rupa, 3, Rony, 2, Tanzu, 3 and Tahmina, 3.
The trawler’s hull developed cracks due to strong currents in the river and caused the vessel to capsize after it reached a place equally distant from Katakhal in Ramnewaz and Dhalchar.
It was the third capsize in the upazila in the past one month. The trawler, which set off from Kalatali at 10am, was travelling to Hazir Haat.
The locals were the first to begin rescue operations and the Coast Guard later joined them.
Around 10-15 passengers were unaccounted for while many were rescued and treated at Manpura Upazila Health Complex.
Jannat, Swapna, Kamal, Mishu, Hakim and Yunus Munshi are among those missing in the accident, said officials.
Eleven of the rescued passengers were admitted to the health complex as they were in a critical condition. But Dr Amitabh Dey and Dr Shamiran Kumar Basak of the facility said they were out of danger.
Abu Hanif Sikder, officer-in-charge of Manpura police station, said the sunken trawler was salvaged around 2pm.
He said families and relatives of the victims who died could receive the bodies upon confirmation of identities. “The search for missing passengers is on,” he added.