India hands over 33 rescued Bangladeshi fishermen

India on Thursday handed over disaster relief supplies and 33 rescued fishermen to Bangladesh. The fishermen had been adrift for more than 36 hours after Cyclone MORA stuck Chittagong on May 31.

They were spotted by alert crew of the INS Sumitra, 96 nautical miles south west of Chittagong this morning. Marine commandos on board the ship in a daring operation rescued them. The commandos jumped into the sea to save the fishermen as the boats could not be lowered on account of rising waves at sea.

Navy PRO, D.K. Sharma said, "As of now our ships are there in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. We knew that Cyclone Mora was becoming a threat. So, the Indian Navy was ready in all respects, because over the years, we have seen cyclones either hitting the eastern coast or turning towards the north east and then head towards Bangladesh and Myanmar. We were tracking this very closely and kept our ships standby."

The Indian Navy has dispatched INS Ghariyal from Vishakhapatnam with HADR (Human Assistance Disaster Relief) to join the relief operations in the Cyclone Mora hit region.

The cyclone has affected different regions of north eastern India as well.

About 80 houses have been damaged in Mizoram's Saihah district by heavy rains and strong winds. Due to the storm, many parts of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram also received heavy rainfall.