A fishing trawler that had gone missing off the West Bengal coast earlier this month has been found capsized in the Bay of Bengal, with nine fishermen confirmed dead and six others still missing.

The trawler had left Sankarpur sea harbour on the 2nd of July with 15 fishermen on board. Contact with the vessel had been lost since the 5th of July. A joint search operation by the Coast Guard, the Indian Navy and state agencies located the capsized trawler in the Bay of Bengal on Sunday. Nine decomposed bodies were recovered from the cabin of the vessel. Six people are still missing. The bodies have been brought to Sitarampur in South 24 Parganas district and kept at Katapukur morgue for identification. Blood samples have been collected from family members for DNA matching.

State Fisheries Minister Rajesh Mahto said the state government stands with the bereaved families and assured that the bodies will be handed over after DNA identification and completion of legal formalities.
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have expressed grief over the tragedy.

They conveyed condolences to the families of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to those injured. The Prime Minister has announced an ex-gratia of two lakh rupees from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each deceased and 50 thousand rupees for the injured.