وقال رئيس الشرطة المحلية موينول إسلام: “اشتعلت النيران في عبّارة أوبيجان 10 التي تتألف من ثلاثة طوابق وهي في منتصف النهر”.

وأضاف إسلام: “انتشلنا 32 جثة، وقد ترتفع حصيلة القتلى”، حسبما نقلت وكالة “فرانس برس”.

وبيّن المسؤول أن “الغالبية لقوا مصرعهم بسبب الحريق، وقلة غرقوا بعد أن قفزوا في النهر”.

32 dead in #Bangladesh ferry fire, 100 others injured. boat caught fire in a river in Jhalokati state in Bangladesh, about 200 kilometers south of #Dhaka pic.twitter.com/zqtkfa5AnA

— Dr. Sandeep Seth (@sandipseth) December 24, 2021

ووقع الحادث بالقرب من بلدة جاكاكاثي الريفية الجنوبية، على بعد 250 كيلومترا جنوب العاصمة دكا.

وهذا الحادث هو الأخير في سلسلة من الحوادث المماثلة في هذه الدولة التي تقع في دلتا نهر الغانج المنخفضة، وتعبرها العديد من الأنهار.

ويحمّل خبراء سوء الصيانة وتراخي معايير السلامة والاكتظاظ مسؤولية هذه الحوادث.

At least 38 people killed in Bangladesh ferry fire

The incident happened early in the morning near the southern rural town of Jhakakathi, 250 kilometers (160 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.

The three-story 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.

The incident happened early in the morning near the southern rural town of Jhakakathi, 250 kilometers (160 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.

The accident was the latest in a string of similar incidents in the low-lying delta country crisscrossed by rivers.

Experts in the South Asian country of 170 million people blame poor maintenance, lax safety standards at shipyards, and overcrowding.

“We have recovered 38 bodies so far,” Kalam Hossain Bhuiyan, a senior fire service official in the district, told Reuters.

Jhalakathi District Administrator Zohor Ali said the toll is likely to increase as over 50 injured people have been admitted to the hospital. Of these, some passengers are in critical condition.

The vessel was carrying at least 500 people. The others are still missing.

Bhuiyan said the fire started in the engine room and quickly ripped through the ferry, which was going to Barguna district from capital Dhaka via Jhalakathi.

The police told AFP that terrified passengers jumped off the vessel to escape the fire and a few of them died by drowning.

“A lot of people ran for safety as the fire spread,” a survivor at Barisal Medical College Hospital told AFP. “A lot of people could not get out of their cabins where they were sleeping. Many jumped into the river.”

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