Yangon – At least 20 people were killed when a boat carrying around 60 wedding guests collided with a river barge in Western Myanmar, authorities said Saturday.
The boat, called “Silver Star” in Burmese, sank Friday evening in a river near Pathein, a port city west of commercial capital Yangon.
Many more were feared drowned as rescuers searched for the missing. Of the dead, officials said 16 were women and four were men, the NDTV reported.
Both ships were unlit when they collided in the middle of the river, according to officials.
Authorities resumed the search operation Saturday morning, the police officer said, though no bodies had been found by midday.
Fatal boat accidents are common in Myanmar, a poor country with rudimentary transport and weakly-enforced safety regulations.
Last October 73 people, including many teachers and students, drowned when their overloaded vessel capsized in central Myanmar on the Chindwin River.
