New Delhi, July 12 -- DEIR EZZOR - A ferry carrying more than 35 people struck a bridge on the Euphrates River in eastern Syria on Sunday, killing at least two children and throwing every passenger into the water. Syrian Civil Defense rescue teams pulled more than 15 survivors from the current as the search for those still missing continued into the afternoon.

The accident happened in Deir al-Zor, the main city in Deir Ezzor province, a region that spent three years under the control of the Islamic State before government and Kurdish forces recaptured it in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Much of the fixed infrastructure that once spanned the Euphrates was destroyed during the fighting and the years of displacement that followed, leaving riv...