The Bangladesh coastguard searching for survivors of the sunken trawler after it sank carrying more than 100 passengers travelling to Malaysia, at the Khudiyar Tek Point in the Kutubdiya Channel, off Bangladesh, yesterday.
AFP/Dhaka
Rescuers pulled seven bodies yesterday from a fishing boat that sank off the Bangladesh coast carrying migrants to Malaysia, as a search continued for a dozen still missing, an official said.
Emergency workers have rescued 43 Bangladeshis in the Bay of Bengal since the trawler capsized in strong currents some 2.5km (1.5 miles) offshore on Thursday, officials have said.
“We recovered seven bodies from the lower deck of the boat on Friday morning,” coastguard captain Shahidul Islam said.
The bodies were found after the coastguard towed the boat to shore, Islam said.
Although dozens were initially feared missing, Islam said yesterday officials now believe the figure is lower after interviewing more of the survivors.
“We don’t know how many people are still missing because the survivors gave us different estimates as to how many people were aboard the boat when it capsized,” he said.
“But it was a small boat and we think the number of missing won’t be more than a dozen.”
The coastguard, along with the Bangladesh navy, was scouring the sea, but with more than 24 hours elapsing since the disaster, hopes were fading of finding them alive, he said.
All of the passengers were Bangladeshis who were heading to Malaysia by sea illegally, police have said.
The boat hit strong currents in a channel shortly after leaving a coastal town near the southern port city of Chittagong.
Thousands of impoverished Bangladeshis and ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar attempt the perilous journey to Malaysia every year.
Ferry and other boating accidents are common in Bangladesh, home to thousands of small and medium-sized boats, 95% of which officials say do not meet minimum safety regulations.
Rights groups say thousands have perished attempting the 3,200km (2,000-mile) journey to Malaysia, with many falling into the hands of people traffickers.
Some 100 Rohingya refugees lost their lives in two boating tragedies off the Bangladesh coast in October and
November 2012.
Bangladesh’s coastguard and border forces have launched crackdowns on economic migrants, while also arresting a number of human traffickers and confiscating their ships. But there has been no noticeable
impact.
