A river ferry carrying up to 300 people capsized during a storm in Bangladesh early yesterday with dozens of people believed trapped inside, police said.

The double-decker M.V. Lighting Sun was sailing to Dhaka on the Meghna river from the southern Madaripur area when it was swamped by a sudden storm near Chandpur, 170 km (106 miles) east of the capital.

Police said eight bodies, including women and children, had been found. Many of the passengers were believed to be asleep when the ferry overturned. Villagers and fishermen in motor boats picked up at least 35 survivors, police said. Another seven were rescued from atop the hull of the upturned ferry, which was floating partly submerged in the river.

But gusty winds and occasional blasts of rain drove off the ill-equipped rescuers, who managed to cut a part of the ferry?s hull to let the survivors out.

?Only seven people have crawled up and been taken to safety. But no one else showed up?, said a Reuters TV cameraman on the scene. ?It seems more people, dead or alive, are trapped inside.?

Police said a rescue vessel left Narayanganj, near Dhaka, for Chandpur and was expected to reach there in the afternoon. ?However, it may take longer to arrive at the spot because of rough weather and strong currents in the Meghna?, a Narayanganj police officer said. ?The ferry sank in the Meghna?s midstream, off the Anandabazar fishing centre. The river is very turbulent with strong winds still blowing?, said a reporter at the scene. He quoted a survivor as saying the ?packed ferry listed on one side and sank minutes after the storm hit.? ?I could hear people screaming and chanting ?Allah save us? before I jumped into the water and managed to swim to a nearby char (river island)?, the survivor said.

About 400 people were killed and hundreds are unaccounted for after a triple-decker ferry sank in a storm, also in Chandpur district, in July last year.

Impoverished and over-populated Bangladesh has a long history of tragic ferry disasters. Inland water transport authority officials say about 1,000 people die in ferry accidents in the country every year, but the number of missing is far more.

Bangladesh is struggling to clean up one of the world?s deadliest ferry industries ahead of the annual rainy season next month.

The government has banned night sailing by small ferries and issued warnings to owners of larger vessels not to take on excess cargo and passengers. Listening to weather bulletins is also now mandatory for sailors. ?We are taking extra precautions in the months of May and June ? preceding the rainy season ? when powerful storms often strike?, shipping minister Akbar Hossain said in an interview on Friday. ?Safer berths are also being planned at vulnerable sites for sheltering ships during storms?, he said.

Low-lying Bangladesh is criss-crossed by thousands of kilometres of waterways that are crucial trade and travel routes for the congested country?s 140 million people. Only a few major bridges provide transport across the several large rivers that bisect the country.

Every wet season, the waterways become menacing torrents and the country is frequently lashed by cyclones that sweep in from the Bay of Bengal.

Lax safety standards, poorly maintained vessels, corrupt officials and unscrupulous owners competing with other operators to make a profit largely contribute to the problem.

Nizam AHMED