Panchagarh's Boda upazila boat capsize death toll rose to 66 as five more bodies were recovered from different parts of the Karatoya River till Tuesday afternoon.

Additional District Magistrate and chief of the probe committee Dipankar Kumar Roy confirmed the number this afternoon.

He said the team resumed the search operation for the missing people at 5:30am on Tuesday for the third consecutive day and till this afternoon 16 more bodies were recovered.

Fifty bodies were recovered till Monday night. The rescue workers postponed their operation at night for the second consecutive day.

The team resumed the search operation for the missing people at 5:30am on Tuesday and till this afternoon 12 more bodies were recovered.

"Many are still missing. We are continuing the operation to find out the missing people as their nearest and dearest one is awaiting eagerly for them," said Panchagarh Fire Service and Civil Defence's assistant deputy director Sheih Mohammad Mahabubul Islam.

The tragic incident happened on Sunday (September 25) while more than hundred passengers, mostly women and children, were going to Badeshwari temple on the occasion of the celebration of Mahalaya by a engine-run boat.

Suddenly, it capsized in the middle of the Karatoya River in the district as the trawler carrying the passengers beyond its capacity.

Some passengers managed to swim ashore but many women and children drowned as they did not know how to swim.

District police chief Sirajul Huda said the boat was carrying three times its permitted capacity.