Three people have died after five vehicles, including a truck, fell into the river from a ferry while crossing the Dhaleshwari River in Narayanganj, police said.

A naval police diving team recovered the bodies of two people around 1:30 am on Saturday.

A few hours later, one person died in the hospital. The deceased were identified as Masud Rana (30), a Singapore-returnee, motorcycle driver Md. Rafiq (35), and van driver Swadhin (25).

Police said that a truck and four other vehicles in front of it fell into a river in Baktaboli of Narayanganj Sadar Upazila around 9 pm on Saturday. The truck driver managed to swim to the shore after the incident, but the three people are missing.

Among them, Rafiq was rescued immediately after the incident and first taken to Narayanganj General Hospital. From there, Rafiq died on the way to a private hospital on a signboard for better treatment.

Four and a half hours after the incident, a diving team of the naval police recovered the bodies of the missing Masud and Swadhin. Masud's body was stuck in the wing of the ferry underwater. He was rescued from there in a badly injured condition.

The deceased Masud Rana is the son of Ataur Sardar of Gopalnagar in Baktavali Union.

He returned home from Singapore a month ago. He was taking driving training in Narayanganj city to go there again. He met with the accident while crossing the river on his way back after completing the training.

On Saturday night, around 9 pm, the ferry carrying vehicles from the east bank of the river at Baktavali Ferry Ghat was going to Baktavali Ghat on the west bank. When the ferry reached the middle of the river, the truck driver started the truck. It is believed that the truck started moving because it was started without neutral. At that time, the truck fell into the middle of the river with two passenger auto-rickshaws, a three-wheeled van and two motorcycles on the ferry in front of the truck.