Ten die as ferry sinks in Brazil

At least 10 people have died after a ferry carrying more than 100 passengers collided with a barge on the Amazon river today, Brazilian officials said.

Another nine people are missing and feared dead after the boat collided with the barge, which was carrying fuel tanks, before sinking.

The Almirante Monteiro capsized at dawn near the isolated Brazilian town of Itacoatiara in the jungle state of Amazonas, state fire spokesman Lt Clovis Araujo said.

He said 92 people were rescued by several small boats and the state’s floating police station, a 32ft vessel that travels up and down the river and was in the area at the time of the shipwreck.

Rescue teams recovered the bodies of four children, five women and one man, Araujo said.

Authorities said a check against the boat’s passenger manifest indicated nine people were still missing.