Fifteen missing fishermen rescued from sea after nine days off West Bengal coast

Jaleswar: Fifteen fishermen who went missing at sea after venturing into the Bay of Bengal have been safely rescued after nine days. All the fishermen are reportedly safe.

According to reports, the fifteen fishermen including three men from Odisha’s Balasore district had gone into the sea for fishing on on July 2 aboard the trawler Maa Kali from West Bengal’s Sankarapur and went missing soon after their journey.

The Maa Kali trawler had reportedly got stuck on a sand dune nearly two kilometres from the Kaka island while deep-sea fishing off the West Bengal coast. The crew had faced a prolonged communication blackout, which made their family members worried about their safety.

The panicked family members had appealed to the government for their rescue.

Notably, the weather department had warned all the trawlers and fishermen to return to coast after predicting a storm on July 3. While, all the trawlers returned to coast, the Maa Kali trawler did not return and communication was also cut off, which led to the search of the fishermen.

On Saturday, all the fishermen were rescued safely.