26 feared drowned: Sunken trawler traced in Bay

As many as 26 people are feared to have drowned in the Bay of Bengal following capsize of a trawler (large boat) off the coast near St Martin’s Island in Cox’s Bazar at the weekend. Trawler ‘FV Bandhan’ with 29 fishermen and crew on board, had capsized after a Singapore-bound merchant vessel, ‘Basundhara-8’, rammed it early Friday. Of the 29 fishermen and crew of the trawler, two were rescued while body of another was pulled from the sea several hours after the accident. But 26 others are still unaccounted-for. Bangladesh Navy’s rescue teams on Saturday found the vessel nearly 30 nautical miles off St Martin’s Island, Department of Shipping official Md Shafiqul Islam said. But there were no signs of the missing crew until Saturday night, he said. Islam added that the Navy and Coast Guards were continuing their search, according to private TV channels.