24 May 2004	Monday	04 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

DHAKA, May 23: Two river ferries capsized or sank in Bangladesh's storm-hit south on Sunday and 240 passengers were reported missing as divers began a desperate search for survivors.

One of the packed ferries carrying around 250 people overturned early on Sunday on the Meghna river and 50 were rescued, the state news agency BSS said. Earlier reports had said up to 300 were aboard.

A second ferry sank on the same river just one km and 40 passengers were missing, police said. Six were rescued from that vessel. The disasters were the latest in a long series in the history of impoverished Bangladesh.

Divers were searching for survivors trapped in the upturned hull of the double-decker M.V. Lighting Sun, which had been sailing to Dhaka from the southern Madaripur area when it was swamped by the sudden storm near Chandpur, 170 km east of the capital.

The other ferry, M.V. Diganta, sank while sailing from Narayanganj, near Dhaka, from coastal Gournadi district. Survivors said the storm hit after it left Chandpur, its last stop before Narayanganj. Villagers joined the search for survivors, witnesses said. -Reuters