A ferry passenger collision with a trawler on Bangladesh's Padma river sent at least 39 people to their deaths on Sunday, police said.

The ferry, packed with more than a hundred people on board, sank to the bottom of the river after the collision. So far, emergency responders have rescued at least 50 passengers and they were still looking for more survivors, Bidhan Tripura of the regional police office said.

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More than half of the 39 bodies so far recovered from the river were women and children, Tripura said, adding that authorities have the trawler in custody and detained the ferry's crew and captain.

The ferry was making its way from Rajbari's area of Daulatdia to Paturia, which lies on the other side of the Padma river about 136 kilometers northwest of the capital, Dhaka, when the collision happened.

Another team of police, aided by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and firefighters, has been trying to salvage the wreckage of the ferry. Police added divers were ordered to recover bodies lying inside the sunken vessel.

Bangladeshi shipping minister Shajahan Khan said at the scene of the disaster that an official investigation is underway. He said an investigation committee has been appointed and members have been ordered to get to the bottom --- the real cause --- of the incident within a week.

Low-lying and flat Bangladesh, with a network of natural inland waterways and loose safety measures, is no stranger to ferry disasters, with deaths from recent ferry mishaps reaching hundreds. Less than two weeks ago, a similar accident left at least seven passengers dead in the southern part of the country. 

TagsBangladesh ferry, ferry collision, Padma river, trawler