At least 39 dead in massive ferry fire in Bangladesh

Bangladesh officials said at least 39 people were killed and 70 others were injured in a massive ferry fire, The Associated Press reported. 

Authorities said the fire started Friday around 3 a.m. on the MV Avijan-10, which was carrying around 800 passengers who were traveling to visit family and friends for the holiday weekend. 

The ferry was traveling from the capital of Dhaka to Barguna, which is located in the southern part of Bangladesh, with the ferry catching on fire off the coast of Jhalokati district on the Sugandha River toward the end of its journey.  

Firefighter Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan said it took 15 fire engines two hours to control the fire, and another eight fire crews to cool down the vessel. 

Survivor Anisur Rahman told reporters that he and other passengers had to jump into freezing water to escape the fire. 

“I was sleeping on the deck and woke up hearing screams and a loud noise,” Rahman said. “I jumped into the freezing water of the river in the thick fog, like many other passengers, and swam to the riverbank.”

Police officer Moinul Haque said rescue crews recovered 37 bodies from the river, and two additional victims died from burn injures on their way to the hospital, the AP reported. 

Seventy victims were transported to a nearby medical facility to be treated for their injuries with some suffering from severe burns, authorities said. 

Bhuiyan said the fire may have started in the ferry’s engine room, the AP reported. Two committees have been formed to investigate the incident, and they will report their findings to government officials within the coming days.

Ferries are one of the main sources of transportation in Bangladesh, which contains 130 rivers, and accidents are common on the vessels, with soft safety rules and overcrowding in the river as the main instigators, the AP noted.