26 feared dead

One person died and 26 more went missing after a fishing vessel capsized in the Bay of Bengal early yesterday.

Two Navy ships and a helicopter scoured the area throughout the day but failed to find any of the missing till 10:00 last night.

The FV Bandhan with 29 crewmen onboard turned turtle about 30 nautical miles northwest off the Saint Martin's Island around 3:10am, after being hit by Singapore-bound merchant vessel Bashundhara-8, said officials of Bengal Fisheries Limited, the owner of the capsized vessel.

Three crew including junior officer Sajib Hossain, 25; and sailors Nasir, 40, and Lavlu, 30, were rescued by the crew of a fishing trawler but Nasir died later, said Kazi Kamrul Amin, assistant manager (operations) of the joint venture of AK Khan Group and Japan's Maruha Nichiro Corporation. Nasir hailed from Pirojpur.

“Our vessel was catching shrimps in the fishing zone in the Bay during the accident. When the crew noticed Bashundhara-8 heading towards their vessel, they along with fishermen on trawlers around started signalling to the merchant vessel to change course, but got no response," he said.

He blamed negligence of the Bashundhara-8 crew for the accident.

"The crew of our vessel could have been rescued alive, if Bashundhara-8 had not fled," he said.

Immediately after the incident, Navy ship BNS Samudro Joy intercepted the Bashundhara-8 but later let it go considering its business potential, said a Navy official seeking anonymity.

According to the Navy and Chittagong port sources, Bashundhara-8 indeed had left the port on Thursday night and passed through the accident spot.

The owners and operators of the merchant vessel could not be reached despite repeated attempts.

Lt Commander Khaja Masum, a Navy official stationed in Chittagong, said BNS Samudro Joy was engaged in the rescue and salvage operation since 4:30am. Later BNS Atondra, a maritime patrol aircraft and a helicopter joined the search. Another ship BNS Adamya equipped with modern rescue gears was to join the rescue operations last night.

Since most of the crew were sleeping at the time of capsize, they might have got trapped inside the vessel and died, he feared.

The Marchantile Marine Department (MMD) formed a three-member committee to probe the incident, said MMD Principal Officer Shafiqul Islam.

The Bengal Fisheries Ltd lodged two general diaries with Patenga and Bandar police stations and submitted a complaint to the MMD.

Meanwhile, hearing the news of the accident, relatives of the missing crew gathered at AK Khan Ghat of Banglabazar in the city.

Babul Khan came from Patuakhali and was waiting with the national ID card of his elder brother Mokhles Khan, the cook of FV Bandhan.

"We still don't know if my brother is alive. But we want to get at least his body," he said in choking voice.

The fate of Moktadir Billah, 43, captain of the capsized vessel, was yet to be known.

"My brother was actually the captain of another fishing vessel owned by the same company. He became a father only 24 days back, 13 years after his marriage. He was on leave," Moktadir's brother Md Ibrahim Ripon said over the telephone.

As the original captain of FV Bandhan was on leave, Moktadir was called in to steer the vessel on November 19.

His wife Kohinur Begum and 75-year-old mother Ayesha Begum fainted when they heard the news, he said.