18 trawlers sink in Bay of Bengal, 3 fishermen missing

Fishing trawler - A pair of fishing trawlers are in rest at Kuakata sea beach. Shafiul. Creative Commons.

Bagerhat, Feb 5 - Eighteen trawlers sank in Dublarchar of the Sundarbans and in different parts of the Bay of Bengal during storm on Friday night.

More than 100 fishermen managed to swim ashore or were rescued by other fishermen but three remained missing.

The missing fishermen are Shahin ,40, and Mofizul ,30, of Rampal upazila of Bagerhat and Mizan ,34 of Chakla village of Koyra upazila of Khulna.

Pralad Chandra Roy, in-charge of Dublarchar Forest Camp in the eastern parts of the Sundarbans, said a sudden storm and rain hit the area around 10 pm on Friday.

Ten fishing trawlers sank within 8 kms of Dublar Char and 8 fishing trawlers capsized in different areas of the Bay of Bengal,  45 kms  off Dublarchar.

He also said that a large quantity of dried fish worth Tk 2 crore were damaged during the storm.

Muhammad Belayet Hossain, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Sundarbans East Division, said the Forest Department, Coast Guard and local fishermen are conducting search operations for the three missing fishermen. - UNB