Cox's Bazar: 10 fishermen found decaying in sunken trawler  

The police and the firefighters have recovered 10 half-decomposed bodies from a sunken trawler along the Bay of Bengal coast in Nijirar Tek of Cox’s Bazar on Sunday. 

Six of the bodies were found tied with rope, said Cox’s Bazar Sadar police station officer-in-charge (OC) Rafiqul Islam, adding they are yet to identify anyone.  

The OC said all the bodies got distorted and were emitting a strong stench. It seems that the pirates might have looted the fishing trawler, tied the fishermen with rope, placed them in the fish storage, and sunk it in the sea at least 15 days ago. 

The authorities started a drive at 2:00 pm and recovered the 10 bodies until 3:00 pm. Some more bodies might be stuck inside the trawler, added the OC. 

According to the police and locals, a fishing boat encountered the sunken boat in the deep sea and pulled it to the Najirar Tek channel in Maheshkhali after tying it with rope around 1:30 pm on Sunday. At one stage, they noticed parts of the decaying bodies to float and fled the scene out of panic. 

As the locals reported the issue to the authorities, the policemen and the firefighters went to the spot and recovered the bodies. 

A cop associated with the drive said the condition of bodies indicates that it was done by the pirates. The trawler and its fishermen might be from outside the Cox’s Bazar district.   

Gias Uddin, the owner of a trawler in the locality, said this type of trawler usually carries at least 20 fishermen. Some other bodies might be trapped inside the trawler as half of the vessel is still underwater. 

It is a risky task to go there and conduct rescue works, he added. 

OC Rafiqul Islam said the bodies will be sent to the Sadar hospital for autopsy upon completion of the rescue drive. They were trying to identify the fishermen.