An expatriate female tourist went missing after a tourist boat capsized while returning from a trip to the Sundarban on Saturday.
The missing woman, Riyana Azad, 28, was a resident of Bakerganj in Barishal.
Surjit Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of the Sundarban East division鈥檚 Dhankhari station, said that a group of 13 tourists had stayed overnight on Friday at the Mangrove Valley resort in Dhankhari and set out for Mongla on Saturday in a boat.
Around noon, the boat carrying 13 tourists, including women and children, sank in strong currents at the estuary of the Pashur River in the Dhankhari canal of the Sundarban.
Twelve of the passengers managed to swim ashore with local help; however, Riyana was swept away, he added.
A search operation was launched by the Department of Forest, Coast Guard, and river police, but as of 6:00pm on Saturday, the missing woman had not yet been found, OC Surjit said.
Abul Kalam Azad, a relative of the missing tourist, said that the boat carrying 13 people capsized due to strong waves.
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He said that Riyana was a pilot who later moved to the United States and currently resided in Dhaka鈥檚 Uttara area.
