The bodies of at least 10 sailors have been recovered from a sunken fishing trawler that had been missing for over two weeks in Bangladesh.
The fishing vessel was brought to the shore of the resort town of Cox’s Bazar by locals after it was spotted near the estuary of the Bakkhali River on Sunday evening.
The bodies, found tied with rope and nets, were recovered from the cold storage chamber of the trawler, which is used for preserving fish.
Local police said the bodies were in a distorted state and emitted a strong stench.
Rafiqul Islam, the officer-in-charge of Cox’s Bazar Sadar police station, said authorities believe the trawler was attacked by a gang of pirates at least two weeks earlier.
The pirates were likely to have looted the trawler, tied the fishermen with rope, placed them in the storage and scuppered the vessel in the Bay of Bengal, he said.
“We think they were killed in a planned way as the cover of the chamber was closed from outside,” local daily New Age Bangladesh quoted the officer as saying.
Mr Islam said the boat “capsized in the bay due to water intrusion into the trawler through a hole under the trawler. The assailants might have made the hole to kill the victims and destroy the fishing boat.”
Half-melted bodies of 10 people were recovered from the trawler floating in Cox’s Bazar The fire service recovered the half-melted bodies of 10 people from the floating trawler in Nazir Teke of the southern district of Bangladesh.
The pirates were likely to have looted the trawler, tied the fishermen with rope, placed them in the storage and scuppered the vessel in the Bay of Bengal, he said.
“We think they were killed in a planned way as the cover of the chamber was closed from outside,” local daily New Age Bangladesh quoted the officer as saying.
Mr Islam said the boat “capsized in the bay due to water intrusion into the trawler through a hole under the trawler. The assailants might have made the hole to kill the victims and destroy the fishing boat.”
The sunken vessel is reported to have been spotted by another fishing boat returning from the deep sea, which dragged it to the coast before locals pulled it ashore.
The decomposing bodies were sent to a local hospital for autopsy, police said, adding that identification of the dead could aid in finding the motive for the killings.
Relatives of the missing fishermen began arriving at the morgue on Saturday night to identify the dead.
Rokeya Akter, the wife of trawler owner Shamsul Alam, told reporters that she “recognised my husband from his clothes”. Alam had reportedly taken out the trawler for fishing on 7 April.
The bodies will be handed over to their relatives after the completion of legal procedures, the authorities said.
