Rescue workers seek India ferry survivors

NEW DELHI -- Rescue workers searched yesterday for the remains of about 160 people still missing, 24 hours after an overcrowded ferry broke apart and sank in the Brahmaputra river in eastern India during a severe storm.

The bodies of more than 100 of the 350 people aboard the double-decker ferry when it capsized Monday have been recovered. With every passing hour, rescuers said, hopes of finding live passengers dwindled.

"Now it is no longer a question of finding survivors . . . operations are focusing on getting the dead bodies out," said Phani Husain Chowdhury, a local politician who visited the site in the afternoon.

Alok Kumar Singh, a commandant with the Border Security Force's disaster operations, told reporters in Assam that "the underwater current in the Brahmaputra river is very strong. How many will stay alive in that situation, we do not know."

The ferry sank late Monday in the Dhubri district of the eastern state of Assam, near where the river flows into Bangladesh. Many passengers jumped from the rocking boat in panic, one official said. Passengers on the upper deck fared better than those who were trapped in the lower portion of the boat.

Pouring rain and rough river currents hampered overnight rescue operations, according to the government officials. The nearest hospital was a mile away.

"The boat was very old and packed beyond capacity with people and goods," Chowdhury said. "The government did not engage as many rescuers as it should have. The night search operations were crucial."

The state government in Assam announced an interim compensation of about $3,000 for the families of the dead, and about $1,000 for the injured. Twenty-eight local politicians pledged to donate one month of their salaries to families of those who were killed.