At least 100 people were feared drowned after a crowded ferry capsized Tuesday in southern Bangladesh, officials said. Witnesses said more than 100 people, many holiday makers, were trapped in the sunken vessel. The ferry with about 250 people on board was caught in a tropical storm in the Shariatpur district, nearly 85 kilometers south of the capital, Dhaka, officials said. Rainstorms set off tidal floods in eight coastal districts uprooting more than a quarter of a million rural families. Five trawlers with more than 50 fishermen have been missing since the weekend in Kuakata, southern Bangladesh. In Barguna fish harbour at least eight fishing boats were missing since Monday's gale alert, DPA quoted a spokesman for the association of trawler owners, as saying. "A low pressure over the Bay of Bengal has been dumping heavy rains on the lush coast," said Saiful Hossain of the national weather office. This is the third round of flooding since the monsoon started in August.
