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 yesterday, 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 -- the
least developed part of the impoverished army-ruled country --
rely heavily on poorly-maintained river ferries for
transportation around its flooded plains.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, October 06, 2010, 21:48