Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A fire that consumed a river ferry in Bangladesh killed at least 38 people and left dozens more injured early Friday morning.
The overcrowded ferry was traveling to Barguna with 500 passengers aboard when it caught fire around 3 a.m. on the Sugandha River.
Firefighters reached the scene but were hampered by a dense fog. It took two hours for 15 fire engines to control the blaze and another eight hours to cool down the vessel.
Fire officer Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan said the blaze may have started in the engine room, but the cause of the fire remains unknown. The Bangladeshi government has set up a committee to investigate the fire and has ordered a report in three days.
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Shipowner Hum Jalala Sheikh denied that the fire was caused by a mechanical fault. He told local news outlet UNB that there was an explosion on the second floor of the ferry and that the fire spread to the engine room.
Officials say the death toll is likely to rise. Some passengers who jumped off the boat to escape the fire are still missing. Others who survived are in critical condition.
The blackened hull of the ferry remains on the river's edge as divers search for missing persons.
River routers are the primary mode of commute for about 30% of Bangladesh's nearly 170 million people. The country has 130 intersecting rivers. Accidents involving vessels are common due to lax safety rules and overcrowding.
