Seven bodies were recovered yesterday from the hull of the trawler which capsized in the Bay of Bengal on Thursday with about 80 Malaysia-bound illegal passengers; around 30 more, however, remain missing.
After conducting a search inside the boat, the bodies were found at the bottom layer of the 30-feet-long wooden fishing trawler – FV Idris – at around 12:30pm, said Bangladesh Coast Guard (East) Public Relation Officer Lt Commander M Rajibul Islam.
Although the capsized vessel was located and dragged towards the shores of Kutubdia island on Thursday, no bodies could initially be found on the upper decks of the ship.
While officials scanned the hull of the boat in the morning, rescue efforts also continued at the Kutubdia channel – the site of the sinking.
Coast Guard ships Towhid and Tanvir along with five metal shark boats, Bangladesh Navy Ships Oporajeyo and Otondro, and two local fishing boats conducted the joint rescue operation, said Bangladesh Coast Guard (East) Zonal Commander Captain Shahidul Islam.
He said the search for missing people would continue, but admitted that chances for their survival were getting slimmer with every passing moment.
In the early hours of Thursday, an overloaded FV Idris capsized around 8km southwest of Kutubdia Island in the bay, while it was trying to carry illegal migrants to Malaysia. So far, 43 people including six suspected traffickers have been rescued.
Meanwhile, Kutubdia police yesterday lodged a case against six named and 10-12 unidentified persons under sections 7/8 of Human Trafficking Prevention and Control Act 2012, said Kutubdia police station Officer-in-Charge Ongsha Thoai.
The accused – Mohammad Ismail, 35, Obaidul Haq, 35, Nur Mohammad, 50, Mohammad Yasin, 18, Mohammad Toyeb, 32, and Mohammad Rasel, 32 – were found in the water with the illegal immigrants, the OC said; adding that all of them hailed from different areas of Cox’s Bazar.
The OC also said they were looking for owner of the trawler which was made only for illegal human trafficking.
“The boat was named as a fishing vessel [FV] while fishing nets and other equipments could also seen on the trawler; but its inner shape and cargo-vessel like multi-deck suggests that it was specially made for some unusual activities like trafficking or smuggling,” he added.
