“Most of the passengers were coming back to the city from home after celebrating Eid-al Fitr,” Saiful told Reuters, referring to the festival marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.
A similar capsize occurred in May, when 54 bodies were recovered from a vessel that went down with around 200 people on board.
Low-lying Bangladesh, with extensive inland waterways and slack safety standards, has an appalling record of ferry accidents, with casualties sometimes running into the hundreds.
Overcrowding is a common factor in many of the accidents and each time the government vows to toughen regulations.
In March 2012, a ferry sank near the same spot, killing at least 145 people.
(Reporting By Serajul Quadir; Editing by Ron Popeski)