370 Indian fishermen missing in storm

INDIA: A total of 370 fishermen were missing Monday after their trawlers were caught in a storm in the Bay of Bengal off India's east coast, a fishermen's association spokesman said.

The fishermen on 26 trawlers were part of a fleet of 100 that went out to sea on Friday and were caught in the storm on Monday, said Barun Maiti, secretary of the fish traders' association.

"The trawlers were caught in a storm with wind speeds of 80 kilometres to 100 kilometres (50 miles to 62 miles) per hour this morning, he told AFP from the coastal town of Digha in West Bengal state. "We could not contact 26 trawlers..," Maiti said.

Another trawler with 18 fishermen capsized in the Bay of Bengal near Digha but "fourteen of the men have been rescued and the rest we believe were carried into the open sea by strong waves," he said.

Indian Coast Guard commandant Gurupdesh Singh said helicopters had been deployed to locate the missing as the weather office warned of more bad weather off the West Bengal coast in the coming days.

Kalkata, Tuesday, AFP