19 dead after Myanmar ferry capsizes

An overloaded ferry capsized in Myanmar's Ayeyarwaddy Delta, killing 19 people, most of them schoolchildren, a local official said Thursday. The boat was carrying 89 passengers, mostly students and teachers, when it sank Wednesday morning near Labutta township's Hsalu village, 105 miles (168 kilometers) south-west of Yangon, the official said.
Nineteen bodies, including those of 15 schoolchildren and two teachers, have been recovered and another three people were missing, said the official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to release information. The students had been headed to an inter-school football match, the official said. People living in Myanmar's vast delta region often travel and transport goods by boat because of the low cost and the inaccessibility of many areas by road.