30 killed in Myanmar boat accident, many missing

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 today, witnesses and authorities said.

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 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.

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Boat accidents are common in the impoverished army-ruled country 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.