Yangon: At least 30 people were killed and about two dozen are missing after a ferry carrying mostly students and teachers capsized in Myanmar's southern Irrawaddy delta region on Wednesday, witnesses and authorities said.

Most of the 89 passengers were young students travelling to watch a football match when the overloaded boat sank in Labutta township, 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Yangon, the commercial capital of the former Burma.

The Irrawaddy Delta was the area that suffered worst when Cyclone Nargis hit southern Myanmar in May 2008. The catastrophic storm killed around 138,000 people and left thousands more homeless.

Most people living in the low-lying region -- the least developed part of the impoverished army-ruled country -- rely heavily on poorly-maintained river ferries for transportation around its flooded plains.

Boat accidents are common where several sinkings or collisions involving overloaded vessels occur each year. About 40 people were killed when a passenger boat sank in the Yway River in July 2008.

Reuters

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