Missing fishermen: total 9 bodies found

With the recovery of another body today, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has recovered the bodies of nine of the 19 fishermen who went missing on Monday after their trawlers capsized in the Bay of Bengal, a top ICG official said.

"Coast Guard Dornier aircraft, hovercraft and ship Sujay are continuing the search for the 10 others who are not accounted for yet," ICG Inspector General (North East region) K S Sheoran said.

The search area has been extended, he said adding that one more Dornier from Bhubaeswar has also been engaged in the search operation.

"Despite challenging weather condition due to the formation of a low pressure area in north-west Bay of Bengal, all out efforts will be made by the Coast Guard to continue search for the remaining 10 fishermen," Sheoran said.

The ICG official said the ICG station at Frazerganj is maintaining close liasion with West Bengal government's Department of Fisheries, fisheries associations and families of the missing persons.

While six bodies were recovered yesterday, two were found on Wednesday. The bodies were found from an area in the sea, about 35 nautical miles from Dalhousie island of West Bengal.

The fishermen had ventured into the sea from Frazerganj in South 24 Parganas district.

Fishing trawler FB Joykishan had capsized amid an extremely rough sea condition and inclement weather on Monday, following which the search-and-rescue operation was launched by the Coast Guard.

Six to seven trawlers carrying men from the Namkhana and Kakdwip areas of South 24 Parganas had set sail around 10 am on Monday, Bijan Maity, Secretary, West Bengal United Fishermen Association, said.

Three of the boats -- FB Malleshwar, FB Joykishan and FB Maa Shibani -- capsized in the sea.

Ten fishermen on board FB Joykishan, six on board FB Malleshwar and three more, who were on other trawlers, had gone missing, Maity said.

All the 17 fishermen of FB Maa Shibani, six of FB Joykishan and five of FB Malleshwar were rescued, he added.