A boat carrying Hindu devotees to centuries-old Bodeshwari Temple capsized in the Korota river in northwestern Bangladesh on Sunday, killing at least 24 people, including women and children, while over a dozen remained missing, officials said.
The incident happened in Bangladesh’s Panchagarh district when the devotees were travelling in the boat to the Bodeshwari Temple on the occasion of Mahalaya, the auspicious start of the Durga Puja festival.
“Around 24 people have died in the boat capsizing incident. Of the dead eight are minor children and 12 are women...some of them were declared dead after they were brought to a local hospital,” Solaiman Ali, administrative chief of Panchagargh’s Boda sub-district, told newsmen.