Eighteen fishermen stranded on a disabled fishing trawler in the Bay of Bengal off Sonarchar in Rangabali upazila, Patuakhali, have been rescued unhurt. Their relatives reached them on another fishing trawler at about 9am on Thursday (24 September), four days after their boat broke down.

Farhad Hossain Patwari, a fish wholesaler with Jobayer Enterprise at Hazariganj in Char Fasson, Bhola, confirmed the rescue, saying a trawler had been sent to bring the fishermen back. Firoz, brother of the disabled trawler's owner Hanif Majhi, said all 18 crew, his brother among them, were unharmed and had been taken to the Pachkopat sluice gate area of Hazariganj union.

The trawler's propeller broke on 19 September, and it lay anchored between Sonarchar and Rupar Char. When Hanif Majhi got a mobile signal on 22 September he told the wholesaler, and the national emergency number 999 was called for help.

With signal number three in force and the sea rough, a rescue was too risky until Wednesday. The fishermen were finally brought back on Thursday morning aboard the trawler the wholesaler sent.

The Agro News reported the stranded crew on 23 September, citing Prothom Alo. This report is from Dhaka Tribune.

Source: Dhaka Tribune