International News

YANGON, Oct 20 (APP/AFP): A total of 72 people died when an overloaded ferry sank in central Myanmar, local officials said Thursday, calling for an overhaul of the creaking boats that ply the river as the search effort ended. Scores of teachers, students and workers were packed into the crowded boat when it capsized in the early hours of Saturday as it chugged along the Chindwin River. More than 150 people were rescued alive, but dozens more perished as the vessel swiftly sank about 72 kilometres (45 miles) north of the city of Monywa. Dozens of bloated corpses have been swept downriver, while others were found trapped inside the broken shell of the boat as rescue workers hauled it to the surface. “We lifted the whole sunken boat this morning,” Sa Willy Frient, director of social welfare and resettlement in Sagaing region, told AFP. “We got 72 dead bodies in total… 14 men and 53 women were taken from the boat, and another five dead bodies which were carried away by the water. “We have concluded our salvage today.”