Bengal:Bodies of 9 fishermen found from sunken trawler,6 still missing

In West Bengal, bodies of nine fishermen were recovered from a trawler that sank in the Bay of Bengal off the South 24 Parganas coast, while six others remained missing, a senior official said on Monday. The bodies were so decomposed that they were difficult to identify. Some of the victims might be from neighbouring Odisha. The trawler, ‘Joy Ma Kali’, had left Shankarpur fishing harbour in Purba Medinipur district on July 2 with 15 fishermen on board for a fishing expedition. Contact with the vessel was lost after July 6, the official said.
After an eight-day search, the submerged trawler was located on Saturday near Bagher Char, around 35 km off the Bakkhali coast, by the police and the Indian Coast Guard, the official said. Several fishing trawlers towed the vessel to the Sitarampur coast in Patharpratima on Sunday. Rescue personnel worked through the night and recovered the bodies of nine fishermen from inside the trawler. The South 24 Parganas district official said six fishermen were still untraceable and search operations were continuing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the tragedy.“The loss of lives in the boat accident in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal is deeply saddening. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. An ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a post on X.
The official said preliminary findings suggested the trawler might have capsized after encountering rough weather in the Bay of Bengal, though the exact cause would be established after an inquiry. Among those missing are three brothers from Odisha’s Balasore district, Rabindra Majhi (52), Jayaram Majhi (49) and Jagannath Majhi (45). A relative, Sannyasi Majhi, said the three had travelled to Shankarpur for fishing work as they had done on several earlier occasions.The remaining deceased and missing fishermen belong to Purba Medinipore, Howrah and Nadia districts. Family members have been waiting outside the mortuary at Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital as the search for the remaining six fishermen continues.