BRASILIA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the shipwreck in Salvador, capital city of Brazil's eastern state of Bahia, has risen to 22, confirmed the navy on Thursday.
The vessel, with a capacity of 160 passengers, had 129 people on board at the time of the incident when the boat overturned shortly after its departure at 6:30 p.m. local time, according to the information from local transportation authorities. ' The navy said 21 people were rescued alive and pointed out that since the vessel was operated by private companies, they still need further information to verify precisely the exact number of people on board.
Three rescue teams were dispatched to the site and later the local fire department personnel joined the rescue, reported the port authorities.
Last week, the route which the vessel operates was interrupted several times due to prolonged low tide.
It is the second shipwreck in Brazil within two days as a ship sank overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday on the Xingu river in northern Para state in the Amazon region, leaving at least 19 people dead.