At least 50 people are still missing after a ferry sank in southern Bangladesh earlier on Friday.

The search for survivors has now been suspended until first light on Saturday.

Police spokesman Abdullah al-Azad Chowdhury said about 100 people had been on board the MV Suraha when it sank in the coastal Baleswar river during a night storm.

We have mobilised the local administration and police to immediately launch rescue efforts

M Abdul Quddus, regional commissioner

Some of those on board managed to swin shore, officials say - the rest are unaccounted for.

One report said that as many as 75 might be missing.

The accident came just three weeks after more than 400 people were killed when the MV Salahuddin-2 sank in the Meghna river, 170 km (106 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka.

Bangladesh authorities have been fiercely criticised for the number of ferry accidents on the country's thousands of kilometres of rivers.

The MV Suraha went down en route from Charduani in the coastal district of Pirojpur to the industrial district of Khulna.

Officials say no bodies have been recovered so far.

"We have mobilised the local administration and police to immediately launch rescue efforts and also asked for a salvage ship to rush to the scene," regional commissioner M Abdul Quddus told Reuters news agency.

The salvage vessel was not expected to reach the scene before Friday night.

'Design flaws'

BBC correspondent Alistair Lawson in Dhaka says Bangladesh ferries are at their busiest on Thursday evenings, because Friday is the weekend.

He says this disaster will once again raise questions about passenger safety.

Most ferries in Bangladesh do not carry passenger lists, and many have inadequate safety procedures.

A committee of inquiry into the accident on the Meghna concluded that the vessel concerned had significant design faults, and was seriously overloaded.

The report released by the inquiry said that when it encountered bad weather, it tipped over like a toy boat.