Dec 24, 2021: At least 32 people were killed when a loaded ferry caught fire in southern Bangladesh, according to police, in the latest maritime tragedy to kill the poorest people.

The incident took place on Friday morning near the southern rural town of Jhalokati, 250 km (155 miles) south of the capital Dhaka. About 500 people were on board.

The police said, “A fire broke out in the middle of the river in the three-story Obijan 10 area. We have recovered 32 bodies. The death toll could rise. Local police chief Moinul Islam told AFP that most of the people were on fire.” Some drowned after being hit and some jumped into the river.

Islam said the fire is believed to have started in the engine room and then tore down a ferry full of people returning home from Dhaka. “We have sent about 100 burn victims to hospitals in Barisal,” he said.

A video circulating on social media shows a boat catching fire. The crash was the latest in a series of similar incidents across the river delta.

In a country of 170 million people, experts have blamed poor maintenance, low safety standards in shipyards and overcrowding for the frequent tragedies involving fire on ferries.

In July, a fire at a food factory in Roopganj, an industrial city outside Dhaka, killed 52 people. At least 70 people were killed in February 2019 when a fire broke out in an apartment in Dhaka where chemicals were illegally stored. In August, at least 21 people were killed when a passenger boat and a sand-laden cargo ship collided in a lake in eastern Bangladesh.

The boat was carrying about 60 passengers when the cargo ship’s steel bow collided with another ship near the town of Bejoy Nagar. After the cargo ship’s steel tip collided with the boat, divers had to search for more bodies in the muddy waters, causing the passenger ship to capsize.

In April and May, 54 people were killed in two separate accidents. Sand transport vessels sit in the water and can be difficult to see in cut conditions, especially in poor light. In June last year, a ferry in Dhaka sank after colliding with another ferry from behind, killing at least 32 people.