Vessels ferrying people along Myanmar’s coastline and rivers are often dangerously overcrowded. (AFP pic)
YANGON: Rescuers have recovered 11 bodies after an overloaded boat carrying around 90 people sank off Myanmar’s southern coast, a local resident told AFP today, with more than a dozen passengers still missing.
“We found 10 bodies last night and one this morning,” said a monk from Kyauk Kar village in southern Tanintharyi region, from where the boat had left yesterday evening.
The boat had been carrying around 90 people, mostly students who were returning to Myeik city after a two-week break, according to the monk, who asked for anonymity to talk to the media.
“The boat left from the village at 9pm which was too late already, and it was overloaded and sunk,” he said.
He added that nine people had been rescued following the incident near Myeik, around 550km from Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon.
Villagers had carried out cremations for the 11 bodies that had been recovered, he said, and local rescue teams were searching for the missing.
None of the recovered bodies were of students, the monk said.
One local media outlet reported 60 people had been rescued after the incident and also said the boat had been carrying around 90 people.
It put the number of missing at 17.
Boat accidents are common in Myanmar, a country with rudimentary transport and weakly enforced safety regulations.
Vessels ferrying people along the coastline and rivers are often dangerously overcrowded, and accidents can have staggering death tolls.
It can also take several days for all bodies to be retrieved.
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