Rioters clashing over land rights have burned down dozens of homes in north-east India, while some 50,000 villagers are sheltering in camps for protection, police said today.

About 40 people were dead and 160 missing after an overcrowded passenger ferry with 350 people aboard split into two and sank in a river in north-east India in a storm.

A packed ferry boat has capsized in heavy winds and rain in remote north-eastern India, leaving at least 35 people dead and 165 others feared missing.