151 fishermen missing in the Bay of Bengal
At least 151 fishermen have been missing in the Bay of Bengal in Bhola, Patuakhali and Barguna districts.
In Dhal Char union of Bhola’s Charfession upazila, over a hundred fishermen in 12 fishing trawlers have been missing for the last four days.
Harun Howlader, a member of the union, said the fishermen went to the Bay for fishing on Thursday.
“Most of the vessels have already returned. We still don’t know the whereabouts of these 12,” he said, adding that they had informed the coast guard about the missing fishermen.
In Patuakhali’s Kalapara upazila, at least 36 fishermen in two trawlers have been missing for the last six days.
Authorities are yet to locate the trawlers, reports our Patuakhali correspondent.
The trawlers -- FB Ferdous and FB Mayer Doa -- went to the sea on Tuesday. They had 18 fishermen each.
In Barguna, a fishing vessel, FB Tariqul, carrying a total of 15 fishermen have remained missing since November 5, said Golam Mostafa Chowdhury, president of Barguna Trawler Owners’ Association.
The missing fishermen are from Barguna sadar and Bamna upazilas, he said.
Mostafa said that generally the fishing trawlers take about two weeks to return to shore.
“As the danger signal was hoisted in the coastal areas for cyclone Bulbul, all the trawlers, but one, which had gone to the Bay on November 5 have already returned,” he said, adding that they could not send any rescue boat as the sea was rough.
Lt Biswajit Barua, station commander of Patharghata coast guard, said they had instructed all the patrolling ships in the Bay to conduct search operations for the missing trawlers.
After the signal was hoisted, the coast guard rescued over a hundred fishermen stuck in the estuaries of the Bishkhali and Baleshwar rivers till 6:00pm yesterday, he said.
Comments