Teknaf, Bangladesh: At least 50 fishermen have gone missing and fishing boats have capsized in the rough sea following a monsoon storm, which the Met office in Cox’s Bazaar had predicted yesterday afternoon in the Bay of Bengal, according to Mohamed Hafiz Saifullah, Chairman, Baharchara Union of Teknaf.
 
Around 50 fishing boats with 300 fishermen onboard went missing in the sea near Baharchara of the Teknaf coast at about 1.30 pm yesterday. Each fishing boat had five to seven fishermen onboard, the chairman said.
 
More than 200 fishermen managed to swim ashore. But, more than 50 fishermen are still missing in the Bay, said Abul Kasem, a fishing boat owner.
 
The fishing boats of Abul Kasem, Mohamad Ismail, Moulavi Mostaque Ahmed, Ali Ahmed and Syedur Rahman from Baharchara and Farid Ahmed of Teknaf Sadar, are missing, said a local official in Teknaf.
 
Md. Tafail Islam, Upazila Nirbahi (TNO) Officer, Teknaf visited Baharchara coast after the storm petered off.
 
“Rescue operations cannot be conducted as the sea continues to be rough,” Tafail said.
 
The fishermen are mostly from the Rohingya community of Burma, living in the refugee camp, in the area and some have come from Burma to work in order to help their families in Burma, said a local from a fishing project.
 
“We are searching for more than 10 refugees, who had gone to work in the fishing area, but, so far there is no information. Maybe they are among the missing fishermen,” said Meah, a committee member of the Kutupalong unregistered camp when Kaladan News contacted the camp.