Bangladesh : Naval divers and rescue workers found 30 more bodies on Wednesday from an ill-fated ferry which capsized in Meghna river in southwest Bangladesh, taking the death toll in the mishap to 65, officials said.

Warning that the toll may rise further, officials said the rescuers were trying to raise the wreckage of the ferry to bring it ashore to find out the fate of dozens of passengers still missing.

The ferry ‘MV Shariatpur-1’ collided head-on with a cargo boat and capsized in darkness early yesterday morning, trapping most of the estimated 300 passengers on board the boat headed for the capital Dhaka.

“30 more bodies were taken out from inside the sunken launch as divers entered the vessel this morning,” a fire official said.

Bodies of the thirty-five passengers had been taken out on Tuesday in salvage operations which lasted the whole day.

The operations to raise the vessel resumed Wednesday morning after being halted for the night.

Television footages showed two Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) salvage vessels were trying to raise the sunken ferry and tug it to the shoreline in an upside down state.

Most of the thirty-four dead bodies recovered today were found floating in the Meghna river.

Earlier, Dhaka Police Chief had said that fifty passengers of the ill-fated vessel had managed to swim to safety and were plucked out by other ferries navigating on the river.