Pirates abduct 41 more fishermen in Bay
Pirates abducted 41 fishermen at Vedakhali canal in the Bay near Fairway Buoy in Patharghata upazila Tuesday night.
Quoting fishermen who managed to free themselves from the clutches of the gang and returned to Patharghata, Mostafa Chowdhury, president of Patharghata Trawler Owners' Association, said that 40 to 50 pirates coming in two trawlers attacked the fishermen at 7:00pm on Tuesday.
They kidnapped 41 fishermen at gun point, he said.
Eleven of the fishermen were identified as Jalil, Mozammel, Rahman Abedin, Sagir, Mostafa, Shahid, Hanif, Yusuf, Mamun, Aiyub and Sagir.
The fishermen were attacked by the pirates while catching fish in the Bay, about 100 km south of Patharghata upazila.
The abducted fishermen could not be rescued till 5:00pm yesterday.
Earlier, pirates kidnapped around 100 other fishermen along with 11 fishing trawlers, plundered cash, fishes, fishing nets and other valuable items following attack on 95 fishing trawlers in the waters off Bagerhat coasts in the last two weeks.
They mercilessly beat up and injured 35 fishermen during raids on the trawlers. Victims and other fishermen estimated that goods worth Tk 1 crore were looted from the 95 fishing trawlers.
Fishermen who managed to escape from captivity said, three gangs of pirates coming by motorised boats attacked 95 trawlers from Sept 10-23 when the fishermen were fishing in different areas of the Bay off Sundarbans coast near Passur estuary, Vedakhali canal and Fairway Buoy areas.
After looting the trawlers, the pirates demanded heavy amount as ransom from the families of abductees and threatened to kill the captives if their demands were not met soon.
The incidents have frightened the fishermen and their families across the villages in the two coastal upazilas. Panicked fishermen have almost stopped going to deep sea in fear of fresh raids.
The kidnapped fishermen hail from Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Barguna, Bhola and Patuakhali districts.
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