At least 12 people, including several schoolchildren, have died after a crowded boat carrying about 50 people sank in northeastern Bangladesh.

Authorities said the boat sank on Monday after it was caught in a storm.

More than two dozen people were rescued or swam to safety after the boat sank.

The accident took place when the boat was making a 3km trip between villages on a lake in Sunamganj district, Babul Miah, a government official said.

Rescuers recovered 12 bodies from the site, including those of six girls heading to school, he said. They were searching for nine people listed as missing, he said.

Criss-crossed by rivers, boat accidents are a common phenomemon in Bangladesh.

Boats and ferries are a preferred mode of transport and carry thousands every day. But they are often old and rickety, and the lack of safety measures render them dangerous.

Last November a ferry capsized in the remote coastal village Bhola some 255km from the capital, Dhaka.