Bay of Bengal trawler capsize: 3 bodies recovered, death toll now 21

Three more bodies were recovered from Bay of Bengal between Sunday and this morning taking the death toll in the February 11 trawler capsize to 21 now.

Coast Guard members recovered two bodies from the sea near St Martin's Island this morning and recovered another on Sunday, our Cox's Bazar correspondent reports, quoting Lieutenant Nayeem-ul-Haque, commander of St Martin's Island base.

At least 15 Rohingya refugees died when the trawler capsized in the Bay of Bengal near St Martin's Island while trying to go to Malaysia illegally, Lt Hayat Ibna Siddique, media officer of Bangladesh Coast Guard, has confirmed.

Prodip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station, confirmed to The Daily Star that those whose bodies were recovered were on board the trawler that capsized in the bay.

The identities of the deceased could not be known.

The Coast Guard earlier recovered three more bodies on Friday and Saturday, our Cox's Bazar correspondent reports, quoting the official.

Apart from the victims, 72 people, including four boatmen, were rescued, while 50 others are feared missing.

The trawler is one of the two boats that capsized around 5:45am near Zinjira point, some 8km northwest of St Martin's Island on February 11. At least 300 people started for Malaysia on two trawlers from Monakhali area around 8:00pm on February 10.

However, the other trawler has not been traced yet.

So far, nine people including the four boatmen were arrested in a case filed in this connection with Teknaf Police Station.