Five people were killed and 10 injured as a launch hit a steamer in Kirtonkhola river of Barisal this morning.

A Dhaka-bound launch, Surovi-7, crashed into steamer “PS Mahsud” carrying about 700 passengers Madhya Charbaria point on Kirtonkhola river, about five kilometers from the Barisal river port, around 4:00am, our Barisal correspondent reports quoting Gazi Saifuzzaman, deputy commissioner of Barisal.

Passengers of four cabins were badly affected in the crash and the dead bodies had to be rescued cutting the body of the steamer using a gas cutter, Faruk Hossain assistant director of Barisal Fire Service.

Identities of the victims could not be known immediately.