The death toll from Sunday’s boat capsize in the Karatoa River in Boda upazila of Panchagarh has risen to 49 with the recovery of eight more bodies on Monday evening.
The bodies were recovered from different places of Karatoa and Atrai rivers in Panchagarh and Dinajpur districts till Monday evening, said Md Emranuzzaman, assistant commissioner (land) of Boda and also duty officer of the emergency information and help centre.
The deceased included 24 women, 13 minors and 12 men, said the duty officer.
Though three diver units of the fire service are carrying out rescue drives, most of the bodies were retrieved by local people, he said.
At least 40 passengers are still missing, added the officer.
The identities of the new victims could not be known immediately.
Three diving units of the Fire Service started their recovery operation in the river on Monday morning.
The officials of the centre also said that the bodies of 39 people including 21 women, 11 children and seven men were recovered till 2 pm.
Meanwhile, seven bodies were found in a river in Dinajpur.
The bodies had reportedly washed away due to strong current.
Later in the afternoon, two more bodies were recovered from the Aulia Ghat area.
The remaining eight bodies were recovered from afternoon to evening.
Additional district Magistrate Dipangkar Roy, also chief of committee formed by district administration for investigation, said that the recovered bodies were handed over to families.
The trawler, carrying 60-70 passengers including women and children, capsized in the middle of the river while heading towards Badheshwar Temple on the occasion of Mayalaya at around 2:30pm on Sunday.
Some of the passengers managed to swim to safety.
The trawler was carrying double the number of passengers than it had the capacity to, according to the district administration.
