The death toll in the Bangladesh ferry disaster rose Friday to 22, officials said. The MV Miraz with more than 200 passengers believed on board sank in the Meghna River during a storm on Thursday. The authorities have handed 16 bodies over to relatives after an overnight rescue operation, but they failed to salvage the ferry that sank in Munshiganj district, 40 kilometers south of Dhaka, while en route to southern Shariatpur district, dpa reported. Divers from the navy, coast guard and firefighting departments were trying to recover the vessel, said Saiful Hasan Badal, chief administrator of the district. Badal said survivors told him that nearly 100 passengers had managed to swim ashore, and noted that it was still not clear exactly how many passengers were on the ferry. An official at the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority said the ferry was overcrowded, carrying more than its capacity of 122 passengers.
