Thousands of Bangladeshi fishermen missing
BANGLADESH: Thousands of Bangladeshi fishermen are missing feared
drowned after a storm last week in the Bay of Bengal, officials said on
Sunday, sharply raising earlier estimates.
Rescuers have so far found more than 100 bloated bodies after a storm
last Tuesday night wrecked their boats.
"Lists provided by local government bodies, fishing community leaders
and fishing boat owners suggested more than 1,700 fishermen are still
missing from the Barguna district alone," said district administrator
Kazi Obaidur Rahman, on Sunday.
Barguna is 300 km south of the capital, Dhaka.
He said 250 out of about 700 boats caught in the storm off the
Barguna coast had returned to shore over the past four days. The fate of
the other vessels was unknown.
"The navy, coastguard, civil administration and the fishing trawler
owners' association have launched a massive search and rescue operation
since Saturday," he told Reuters by telephone, adding that bad weather
had prevented an earlier start.
Returning fishermen have told authorities they saw numerous bodies
floating in the sea. Dogs were seen eating bodies washed up on sandy
islands.
The other affected districts are Patuakhali, Cox's Bazar and Bagerhat,
where local officials on Sunday said nearly 2,000 fishermen were still
unaccounted for.
Along the coast, grieving relatives crowd the shores and harbours
looking for their loved ones. "How can I go home when three of my sons
are still missing. They went to the sea on Monday but none has come
back," said their mother, Marium Begum, in Patuakhali.
Local officials said they were appalled by the huge number of people
reported missing, feared drowned. "But we have not lost all the hope
yet," said an official at Cox's Bazar.
Many fishermen might have been driven into the Sundarban mangrove
forest for shelter and were waiting for calmer seas.
"After previous storms, we had seen people coming back safe and alive
even months after they were reported lost," said the official, who asked
not to be named. Dhaka, Monday, Reuters |