Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Dozens feared dead in Bay of Bengal trawler camsizes

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

COX’S BAZAR: At least 25 persons were feared dead after a Malaysia bound-trawler capsized at Bar Bain area of Bay of Bengal near Saint Martin coast early Wednesday.
Witnesses said the trawler, carrying more than 130 passengers who were trying to enter Malaysia illegally, sank at around 5:00am. More than 100 of the passengers swam ashore, our Cox’s Bazar correspondent reported.

“The trawler, operated by members of a trafficking ring consist of known traffickers like – Firoz, Sabbir, Selim, Alam, Ismail, Younus, Golam Hossain and Dulu Hossain – started picking up people from the west side of Shah Parir Island at around midnight. After the trawler sank, some swam ashore while some others were rescued by a fishing boat nearby,” Abdur Rahim, a survivor of the capsized trawler, told The Independent.

People from Myanmar and different areas of Cox’s Bazar were on board, the survivor added.

“I learned about the incident from the locals. The passengers in the boat were trying to enter Malaysia illegally in search of work,” Mahbubul Haque, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Model Police Station, said while talking to the Independent.

However, he could not provide any other detail of the incident.

A team from Bangladesh Coast Guards are now conducting search operations in the capsize area to find the missing till filing the report at 7:25pm.

 Author / Source : Independent Online Report

No comments:

Post a Comment