At least 50 people are feared drowned after a packed ferry came in collision course with an oil barge in southern Myanmar.

The vessel, named the Naywintun (Rising Sun) was carrying nearly 180 passengers to the towns of Pathein and Thetkelthaung late Sunday when it sank in the Ngawun river in the southern Irrawaddy Delta.

"The boat sank after colliding with an oil barge. We have recovered 34 bodies and there are at least another 16 people missing who are believed to have drowned," AFP quoted a local official as saying on condition of anonymity.

In a similar incident, around 38 villagers died when a boat sank in the delta in July 2008.

In February of the same year, 10 pilgrims drowned in southern Myanmar after a boat capsized en route to a Buddhist pagoda.

The Irrawaddy Delta also saw the worst damage and casualties from Cyclone Nargis which hit southern Myanmar in May 2008, leaving some 138,000 people dead and thousands more homeless.

MRS/AKM