The death toll from ferry accident in Bangladesh's Bhola district, 197 kms southeast of capital Dhaka, rose to 40, as the divers of Bangladesh Navy found 5 more bodies on Sunday, police said.
Bangladeshi President Zillur Raman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is attending the Commonwealth Summit Trinidad and leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia in separate messages expressed deep shock at the deaths
and extended sympathy to members of bereaved families and also prayed for eternal peace of the departed souls.
Meanwhile, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan visited the scene on Friday and formed a five-member committee to investigate the cause of the accident.
The Shipping Minister ordered the district administration to pay 3,000 taka (about 43 U.S. dollars) to each families of the victim for their burial.
Police chief of Bhola district Saiful Hossain told Xinhua by phone that cold weather is harming the rescue operation.
A ferry carrying many passengers who were returning home from Dhaka to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha, one of the biggest holidays for Muslims, capsized Friday night in Nazirpur ferry station when the passengers tried to get down from the ferry in a mess.
Millions of people have left the capital for their home towns by trains, buses and ferries to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha which falls on Nov. 28 this year in Bangladesh.
Inland Water Transport authorities earlier said about 1,000 people die in ferry accidents on an average every year in the country.
The ferry services never maintain list of passenger for which none can exactly say how many passengers a ferry carries.