Dozens killed in ferry inferno (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

More than 35 passengers have died and dozens more were injured in a massive blaze that broke out on board a ferry in Bangladesh in the early hours of Friday.

Most of those on board were still sleeping when the vessel caught fire mid-river around 3am local time on Friday. It only took about 10 minutes for the blaze to engulf the entire vessel, according to the local media. Many passengers had to jump off the boat and into the cold river waters to escape a grisly death by fire.

“I was sleeping on the deck and woke up hearing screams and a loud noise,” a survivor identified as Anisur Rahman told journalists, adding that he saw smoke coming from the rear of the vessel. Rahman said he then had to jump overboard to save his life as the blaze worsened.

Photos and videos published on social media show the massive vessel turned into a veritable inferno, with huge forks of flame bursting forth from its windows and its hull engulfed by fire. Many people are presumed drowned in the vain attempt to save their lives.

Rescue services have so far recovered 37 bodies from the river, a local police officer told the media, adding that two more people died from severe burns on their way to the hospital. Some people are still missing, according to the media. 

The fire also left 70 people injured, including some suffering from serious burns. All of them were hospitalized, local authorities said. It took 15 fire engines two hours to contain the blaze, and another eight hours to cool down the ferry.

The blackened hull of the vessel was later seen anchored at a river bank with crowds of relatives gathering nearby, hoping to get some information about the fate of their loved ones. Rescue service crews were still searching the river hours after the disaster.

The ferry that departed the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka reportedly had between 500 and 800 people onboard. Some reports also said that the vessel had a capacity of only 310. It caught fire some 250 kilometers south of the capital, near the rural town of Jhalokathi.

The causes of the incident are still unclear. Ferries are a popular means of public transport in Bangladesh, which has around 130 rivers flowing through its territory. Incidents involving ferries are also fairly common and are often blamed on overcrowding or a lack of proper safety measures.