DHAKA, May 15: At least 22 bodies were recovered on Sunday after a ferry, caught in a storm, capsized in the River Bura Gauranga in Patuakhali, 300km south of Dhaka. Reports reaching the Bangladesh capital say that more than a hundred ferry passengers remained untraced.

Rescue workers searching for survivors and the dead stopped their operation in the evening because of rough weather, officials said. They said the ferry named Prince of Patuakhali had left for Char Mantaj on Sunday morning with more than 300 people on board. The overcrowded launch was caught in a tropical gale on its way and sank near Char Kajal at Galachipa at about 11.30am.

Passengers of the upper deck and outer parts jumped into the river and swam ashore but many remained trapped inside. The rescuers feared that the missing, many women and children among them, might never be rescued.

The survivors said the people on board the ferry had outweighed its capacity.

“The cabins were shut from inside and there was no space to budge,” a survivor told journalists. Of the dead, nine have so far been identified. They are Asma, 2, Jahangir, 50, Dilara, 30, Habib, 3, Joyful, 50, Altaf, 30, Zihad, 1, and Juthi, 5.

There was lack of coordination in the rescue operation as relatives took away many bodies without leaving their names and addresses. The rescue operation, suspended because of bad weather, is set to resume after the arrival of salvage vessel Hamza on Monday morning. The vessel would take about 20 to 24 hours to reach the place, its commander TI Kader said.

After the accident, some fishing boats nearby hurried to the place and rescued 50 to 60 passengers. Some passengers managed to swim ashore. Scores of people die in motor vessel accidents in Bangladesh every year, especially during the stormy season between April and May.