16 fishermen missing in Bay for 40 days
Forty days into the disappearance of 16 fishermen during a fish haul in Rayenda coastal area of Sarankhola upazila of the Bay of Bengal, authorities are yet to give any clue about the missing men.
Though the members of a law enforcement agency in India had reportedly arrested 15 fishermen, hailing from the same upazila, for alleged trespassing into the Indian territory a few days back, details of their identities are yet to be confirmed by the Indian authorities.
Sarankhola Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mohammad Atul Mondol told the news agency that they had received information that 15 fishermen hailing from the upazila have been imprisoned in an Indian jail after their arrest from the coastal region of the Bay of Bengal.
However, the identities of neither the 16 missing fishermen, nor the 15 imprisoned fishermen can be confirmed, he added.
The UNO said he had conveyed the matter to the foreign affairs ministry and the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi, and a process is on bring back the 15 fishermen imprisoned in Indian jail.
Besides, the 16 fishermen who were to return home on December 25 last year after their fish haul on a trawler have not returned yet.
The fishing trawler, named “FB Mukti-1”, left the shore for catching hilsa from the Rayenda coastal area of the upazila in the bay on December 11 last year. Of the missing, 15 hail from Sarankhola upazila and one from Banshkhali upazila of Chittagong.
Officer-in-Charge of Sarankhola Police Station M Abdus Salek said the trawler owner had filed a GD with the police station and police are trying to find out the victims.
Lt Commander M Alauddin Noyan, staff officer (operation) of Mongla Coast Guard (West zone), said they are on a drive and still looking for the missing fishermen in the coastal area.
Besides, family members of the missing fishermen as well as the trawler owner have already carried out several abortive search drives in this connection in different areas.
Trawler owner Bilash Roy Kalu, a resident of Rayenda village in the upazila, said he tried to find the fishermen through other fishermen who had gone to the sea to catch fish, but failed.
The family members of the missing fishermen are passing their days in grave concern.
Bakul Begum, wife of missing fisherman Faruq Khan of Jilabunia village, said, “My husband was to return in 12-13 days… he went to the sea for fishing risking his life, only to earn the breads. Now I'm passing miserable days with my children.”
Jahanara Begum, mother of missing fisherman Modhu Khan of the same village, said, “Other fishermen have returned from the sea, but no one can give any information about my son, Modhu.”
UNO Mohammad Atul Mondal said the local administration has already provided the victim families of the missing with 16kg of rice and some pulses and oil.
Some more assistance will be given to the families of the missing, he added.
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