A passenger ferry has capsized after colliding with another ship on a river in central Bangladesh, putting as many as 100 people into the water, officials and witnesses say.
Police said there were no immediate reports of casualties after the ferry, MV Sarash, went down on the river Meghna in Munshiganj district, 20 miles south of Dhaka. There was confusion over the number of passengers on board at the time of the accident, but those at the scene said some people were missing.
Khokon Mollik said he had yet to locate neighbours who were on the ferry, including 17 members of a family who were travelling to a funeral.
"We have found none of them yet," Mollik said.
A 12-year-old passenger, Omar Faruk, said he could not find his mother.
The television station Channel-I said local villagers rescued more than 40 people after the accident. Several others were able to swim to shore, the report said.
The station put the number of passengers at more than 100, although a local police official said it was about 80. The president of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport and Passenger Service, Badiuzzaman Badal, said the ferry was carrying just over 50 passengers.
Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh and it is often unclear how many people are on board the frequently overcrowded vessels.
The MV Sarash was on a local run from Narayanganj city to Matlab in the south when it capsized.
The local government administrator Mohammad Saiful Hasan said a salvage vessel had reached the scene and a rescue operation would start after the sunken ferry was located.