Nearly 1,800 Bangladeshi fishermen missing after storm*

DHAKA, Sept 24 (AFP) Sep 24, 2006

Bangladesh said 1,788 fishermen and hundreds of trawlers were still
missing Sunday, six days after a storm in the Bay of Bengal that has
killed scores of people in coastal regions including in India.

The government raised the death toll in Bangladesh to 36 from 31, still
way short of the figure of 85 dead reported by Bangladesh's official
news agency BSS.

"Six days after the storm 391 trawlers remained unaccounted for," said
Shahjahan Shiraji, spokesman for the Food and Disaster Management Ministry.

"Eight hundred and twenty three fishermen were rescued by the coast
guard and other fishermen. Still, 1,788 fishermen remained unaccounted for.

"Chances for their survival remained very low as bad weather has
hampered our rescue efforts even six days after the storm," he said,
adding that some of the missing may have taken shelter in remote islands.

Earlier estimates were that around 1,000 fishermen were unaccounted for
after the sudden storm. Survivors told coast guards in India and
Bangladesh that scores of 30-foot (nine-metre) fishing trawlers had sunk
in the high seas.

The storm wreaked havoc along the Indian coast in West Bengal state,
flattening mud houses and downing trees and utility poles. Authorities
there said at least 29 people were killed and dozens of trawlers remain
missing.

Storms and cyclones which form over the Bay of Bengal in September and
October every year kill hundreds and destroy cattle and crops in
Bangladesh and in India's eastern coastal states.