The death toll from the Bangladesh boat tragedy climbed to 61 on Tuesday while 19 others remain missing, according to local media.

Rescue workers recovered 11 more bodies Tuesday and 26 were found earlier Monday after the boat, carrying religious pilgrims, capsized in northern Bangladesh, according to the country's leading daily, Prothom Alo.

The small boat packed mostly with women and children on their way to a popular temple flipped over on Sunday in a river as onlookers screamed from the shore.

The incident near the remote northern town of Boda was the latest in a string of similar tragedies blamed on poor maintenance and overcrowding in the low-lying delta country.

Regional police chief Sirajul Huda said Monday fire service and navy divers recovered a total of 37 bodies over the last two days in the Karotoa River, downstream from where the boat tipped over.

It was carrying around 90 people, of whom around 50 were pilgrims on their way to the centuries-old Hindu temple for a major festival, according to police.

Huda said up to 19 people were still missing.

Police said they have lowered the number of missing people as some have reported that they have found relatives who had swum to safety.

Huda said the boat was carrying three times its capacity.

"There were heavy rains in the morning and that is why when the ferrying began, pilgrims packed the boat to make it quickly to the temple," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The boatman asked some people to disembark in an effort to ease the weight-load. But no one listened," he said.

Local media said at least 10 people had been rescued and sent to the hospital.

Mobile phone footage aired by TV station Channel 24 showed the overcrowded boat suddenly flipping over, spilling the passengers into the muddy brown river.

Dozens of people watching from the shore started shouting and screaming. The weather was calm at the time.

Thousands of Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh visit the famous Bodeshwari Temple every year.

Sunday marked the start of Durga Puja, the biggest Hindu festival in Bangladesh – and also eastern India – drawing large crowds at the temple.

Last December, around 40 people perished when a packed three-story ferry caught fire in southern Bangladesh.

A ferry sank in Dhaka in June 2020 after a collision with another vessel, killing at least 32 people.

And at least 78 people perished in 2015 when an overcrowded ship collided with a cargo vessel in a river west of the capital.