Bangladesh salvage workers have found over 300 bodies after braving fresh storms to refloat a ferry that sank last week in one of the country's worst ferry disasters, Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain said today.
Rescue workers, hampered by stormy weather, were searching for more bodies from the ferry which sank on Friday some 170 km south of Dhaka, while authorities were trying to identify those already recovered.
The number of deaths from the ferry disaster has already reached 300 and may go up further, Mr Hossain said. Some survivors said the M.V. Salahuddin-2- certified to carry 310 passengers - was loaded with possibly twice that number when it sank, and so a final death toll may never be known.
Many bodies are believed to have been swept away in the strong currents of the Meghna river.
Disaster management officials this evening said they buried some 100 bodies which had decomposed beyond recognition before being claimed by relatives.
"Many bodies are bloated beyond identification," an official said. We are facing a harrowing situation. It is hard to believe our eyes," he said.
Authorities have launched an investigation to determine what caused the accident.
Bangladesh has a tragic history of shipping disasters and investigations frequently conclude that regulations are routinely ignored by some transport operators who also bribe officials to look the other way.