NARAYANGANJ, (Bangladesh): The search for survivors from a ferry disaster in Bangladesh was called off on Monday, officials said, with the death toll rising to 28 when rescuers pulled the vessel from the water and found bodies inside.

The one-and-a-half storey ferry was lifted from the heavily polluted Shitalakshya River in the central district of Narayanganj on Monday, some 18 hours after it sank following a collision with a bigger cargo vessel on Sunday.

"We have found 23 bodies today... Five bodies were found Sunday night," local official Mustain Billah told AFP.

Six children were among the dead, he added.

The vessel, named Sabit Al Hasan, sank less than an hour after it had departed Narayanganj, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the capital Dhaka, officials told AFP.

A local police inspector said the ferry was packed with passengers after the government confirmed it would impose a seven-day lockdown across the country to combat the recent rise in coronavirus cases.

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