At least 32 people died on Friday when a packed ferry caught fire in southern Bangladesh, police said.
“The three-storey Obhijan 10 caught fire mid-river. We have recovered 32 bodies. The death toll may rise. Most died from the fire and a few by drowning after they jumped into the river,” local police chief Moinul Islam told AFP.
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The incident happened early in the morning near the southern rural town of Jhakakathi, 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.
The accident was the latest in a string of similar incidents in the low-lying delta country criss-crossed by rivers.
Experts in the South Asian country of 170 million people blame poor maintenance, lax safety standards at shipyards and overcrowding.