BANGKOK : Thirteen people were killed and seven others are missing after a boat carrying teachers and school children sank in Myanmar, officials said on Wednesday.
The accident involving an overloaded ferry happened on a river in the flood-prone Irrawaddy Delta region of the country on Tuesday, a Myanmar official said, declining to give his name.
"About 70 people, including teachers and school children, were on board the boat for a soccer competition. The local authorities are still searching for people," he said.
A Red Cross official also confirmed the incident, but said it was unclear how many people had been killed or whether children were among the dead.
"We have also received information that about 15 villages in the delta were flooded," he said.
The Irrawaddy Delta was the area that suffered worst when Cyclone Nargis hit southern Myanmar in May 2008. The catastrophic storm killed around 138,000
people and left thousands more homeless.
Most people living in the low-lying region rely heavily on poorly-maintained river ferries for transportation around its flooded plains. - AFP/ms
Source:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1085508/1/.html
The accident involving an overloaded ferry happened on a river in the flood-prone Irrawaddy Delta region of the country on Tuesday, a Myanmar official said, declining to give his name.
"About 70 people, including teachers and school children, were on board the boat for a soccer competition. The local authorities are still searching for people," he said.
A Red Cross official also confirmed the incident, but said it was unclear how many people had been killed or whether children were among the dead.
"We have also received information that about 15 villages in the delta were flooded," he said.
The Irrawaddy Delta was the area that suffered worst when Cyclone Nargis hit southern Myanmar in May 2008. The catastrophic storm killed around 138,000
people and left thousands more homeless.
Most people living in the low-lying region rely heavily on poorly-maintained river ferries for transportation around its flooded plains. - AFP/ms
Source:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1085508/1/.html
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