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Rescue teams have pulled 11 bodies from the waters of the Andaman Sea after an overloaded boat, carrying approximately 30 people, capsized off Myanmar’s southern coastline, a local resident informed AFP on Monday.
Authorities continue to search for the remaining passengers, who are still unaccounted for, as hopes of finding more survivors begin to dwindle.
“We found 10 bodies last night and one this morning,” said a monk from Kyauk Kar village in the southern Tanintharyi region, from where the boat had left Sunday evening.
According to a local monk, who requested anonymity when speaking to the media, the ill-fated boat was mostly carrying students who had been returning to Myeik city from a nearby village after a two-week break.
The vessel, which was overloaded, tragically sank, leaving many passengers missing and prompting an extensive rescue effort.
“The boat left from the village at 9 pm (1430 GMT) which was too late already, and it was overloaded and sunk,” he said.
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He mentioned that villagers had performed cremations for the 11 bodies recovered from the sinking, as local rescue teams pressed on with their search for those still unaccounted for. The grief-stricken community is working tirelessly to bring closure to the families of the missing.
The monk revealed that none of the recovered bodies belonged to the students who were aboard the ill-fated boat, deepening the community’s concern as the search for the missing continues. The absence of student victims among the dead has left families clinging to a sliver of hope.
Boat accidents are common in Myanmar, a country with rudimentary transport and weakly enforced safety regulations.
Vessels ferrying people along the coastline and rivers are often dangerously overcrowded, and accidents can have staggering death tolls. It can also take several days for all bodies to be retrieved.
