A ferry capsized on Wednesday as it was crossing a river in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon and eight people, including a school student and two women, were missing, rescue workers and residents told Radio Free Asia.
The small ferry was carrying 17 people during the morning rush-hour when it overturned, apparently after an accident with a tugboat, in the fast-flowing Hlaing, or Yangon River, a rescue worker said.
“Maritime police, firefighters, rescue teams and ferry boat drivers are all searching for the missing people,” said the rescue worker, who declined to be identified.
He held out little hope that any of the missing would be found alive.
“We’re trying to search for the bodies where we think they might wash up on shore,” he said.
Photographs posted on Facebook showed a small pile of what appeared to be children’s school bags on a dock, while a distraught women stood on a jetty by the river, swollen by recent heavy rain.
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The ferry and the tugboat crashed about 200 meters from the river bank in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing township.
Survivors, including two children, the boat’s driver and six other passengers, were pulled from the water, another rescue worker said.
“Three of the victims who were in very bad health were sent to the emergency department of Yangon General Hospital,” the second rescue worker said.
"The other five did not have life-threatening injuries and were given medical treatment at Bargayar Jetty," said the worker who also declined to be identified for fear of reprisals in light of junta media crackdowns.
Residents of the area said one boy and two young women were among the missing. Police were questioning the boat driver who was not hurt, rescue workers said.
RFA telephoned the Yangon region’s junta spokesperson, Htay Aung, for more information about the accident and search, but he did not respond.
The Myanmar Fire Brigade said that it would continue the search and rescue operation for the missing people.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.