A crowded three-storey ferry carrying around 800 passengers caught fire on the Sugandha River in southern Bangladesh early on Friday, killing at least 40 people and injuring over 70 others, officials said.

The fire broke out at around 3am (local time) on Friday in the engine room of the Barguna-bound MV Abhijan-10 launch that started its journey from Dhaka, police and fire service officials said, adding that scores of other passengers were missing.

Officials familiar with the rescue efforts said 40 people were killed in the blaze, including nine who were drowned. However, some private TV channels, quoting officials, reported 41 deaths from the accident in Jhalakathi district, 250km from Dhaka.

“The rescue campaign is still underway, we can update you about the casualties later,” a district administration official told reporters.

“The record suggests 310 listed passengers were travelling in the ferry, but we assume the actual number was much higher,” junior minister for shipping Khaled Mahmud Chowdhury said after he visited the accident site. He added that 3 separate investigations had been launched to find out the details of the accident.