Nine fishermen found dead in sunken trawler off Sundarbans coast, six still missing

Kolkata: Nine fishermen were found dead after a fishing trawler that had gone missing earlier this month was recovered from the Bay of Bengal near the Sundarbans in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, officials said on Monday.

Six other fishermen who were onboard the vessel remain untraced.

According to officials, personnel from the police, the Forest Department and the Indian Coast Guard located the sunken trawler in the Raktachar area near the Chulkathi forest on Sunday. The vessel was subsequently recovered and brought to the Sitarampur area under the jurisdiction of the Gobardhanpur police station. During a search of the trawler, the bodies of nine fishermen were found inside.

The trawler, identified as ‘FB Maa Kali’, had left the Shankarpur Fisheries Port in East Midnapore district on July 2 with 15 fishermen onboard. Communication with the vessel was reportedly lost after July 5, following adverse weather conditions in the region. A joint search operation involving the police, Coast Guard, Forest Department and fishermen’s organisations had been underway under Chitrak Bhattacharya, deputy field director of the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, since then.

Officials said the missing six fishermen are yet to be traced. The recovered bodies have been sent to Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital for postmortem examination. A fresh joint search operation was launched on Monday to locate the remaining fishermen. Authorities fear the death toll could rise further.

Minister of State for Sundarban Affairs Dipankar Jana visited the trawler after it was brought ashore and reviewed the search operation. He said the state government had been informed about the incident and discussions were underway regarding further administrative action.

The trawler was found overturned near the Chulkathi forest, around 35 km off the Bakkhali coast in South 24 Parganas district, before being towed to Sitarampur Ghat on Sunday evening. The bodies were recovered during the subsequent search of the vessel.

IANS