The death toll from the boat capsize in the Karatoya river of Panchagarh rose to 69, with the recovery of another body on Wednesday afternoon. The deceased was identified as Himalay Chandra, son of Biren Chandra of Boda upazila. Fire service divers fished out the body from the Karatoya River near Aulia ghat in the upazila, said Dipankar Roy, additional district magistrate. Bodies of 30 women, 21 children and 18 men were recovered while three others are still missing, he added. Meanwhile, the five-member probe body, headed by additional DM Roy, got three additional days to submit the probe report, said Md Zahurul Islam, deputy commissioner of Panchagarh. On Tuesday, divers from three firefighting units recovered the 18 bodies from different spots of the river. On Sunday, the overloaded passenger boat carrying around 80 people, mostly Hindu devotees, sank in the middle of the river while heading towards Badheshwar Temple on the occasion of Mahalaya at 2.30pm. Some 25 bodies were recovered from the river on that day only, while many others managed to swim ashore. This is the worst waterways accident the country witnessed after the devastating fire incident in a Barguna-bound launch off the coast of Jhalakathi on December 24 last year that left 50 people dead.

The death toll from the boat capsize in the Karatoya river of Panchagarh rose to 64 on Tuesday, with the recovery of nine more bodies Tuesday morning. Two of the bodies were fished out of the Atrai river in Birganj upazila of Dinajpur and two from Debiganj upazila in Panchagarh, while the remaining were recovered from the area of the tragedy, said Dipankar Roy, additional district magistrate. Also read: Death toll from sinking of Karatoa boat rises to 55 Among the deceased, 28 were women, 18 children and 15 men while gender of three more bodies could not be known yet, said SM Sirajul Huda, superintendent of Panchagarh Police. Rescue operations resumed 7am and "efforts are on to trace 20 more missing passengers", he said. Earlier, SM Sirajul Huda, superintendent of Panchagarh Police, said they had received a list of 40 missing people from their relatives. Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan visited the spot and announced that each of the deceased family will get Tk 20,00 from the government and Tk 25,000 from the Ministry of Religious affairs for funeral. Meanwhile, a five-member probe body, headed by additional DM Roy, was formed to investigate the incident and it was asked to submit its report today, said Md Zahurul Islam, deputy commissioner of Panchagarh. On Sunday, the overloaded passenger boat carrying around 80 people, mostly Hindu devotees, sank in the middle of the river while heading towards Badheshwar Temple on the occasion of Mahalaya at 2.30pm. Also read: 15 die as boat sinks in Karatoya River in Panchagarh; 25 go missing Some 25 bodies were recovered from the river on that day only, while many others managed to swim ashore. This is the worst waterways accident the country witnessed after the devastating fire incident in a Barguna-bound launch off the coast of Jhalakathi on December 24 last year that left 50 people dead.