2 dead, 27 missing after fishing boats sink off Bangladesh amid storm

Rescuers were searching waters off the Bangladesh on Saturday for 27 people missing after at least 13 fishing boats sank in rough sea, authorities said.

Amid a heavy storm in the Bay of Bengal, a boat carrying 18 fishermen sank off Hatia on Friday in Bangladesh's Noakhali district, some 158 km southeast of capital Dhaka.

"Two fishermen died after the fishing boat capsized in the Bay of Bengal near Hatia upazila (sub-district) of Noakhali Friday due to inclement sea weather," Nizamuddin Ahmad, Hatia administration chief told Xinhua on Saturday over mobile phone.

He said 14 fishermen were rescued alive from the fishing boat and rushed to a local hospital for treatment.

"Two fishermen still remained missing," he said, adding that a search is underway for the missing fishermen in the sea.

In Patuakhali district, some 204 km south of the capital Dhaka, at least 11 fishing boats capsized at different points of the Bay of Bengal due to the rough weather on Friday.

"At least 14 fishermen are still missing," Mohammad Shahidullah, the district's police chief, told Xinhua on Saturday.

He said police, coast guard and locals were conducting operations in search of the missing people.

Ansar Uddin Mollah, president of Patuakhali's Alipur-Kuakata fish traders' association, told journalists that 54 fishermen of the boats were rescued by other vessels in the vicinity.

Also amid the heavy storm in the Bay of Bengal on Friday, a boat carrying 19 fishermen sank off Nazirartek Channel in the Bay of Bengal in Cox's Bazar district, some 400 km southeast of capital Dhaka.

"Eight crew members were rescued alive, and a maritime search is ongoing for the 11 other crew members still missing in the Bay of Bengal," Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Cox's Bazar district's additional superintendent of police told Xinhua.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has advised all the fishing vessels in the northern Bay of Bengal and deep sea to take shelter immediately.

It also advised the maritime ports to hoist the local cautionary signal 3 to alert vessels of a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal.

The depression over the northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining area has moved west-northwestward and intensified into a deep depression, the department said in a bulletin.