370 Indian fishermen missing in storm
Pastor Dale Morgan
370 Indian fishermen missing in storm*
KOLKATA, Sept 4 (AFP) Sep 04, 2006
A total of 370 fishermen were missing Monday after their trawlers were
caught in a storm in the Bay of Bengal off India's east coast, a
fishermen's association spokesman said.
The fishermen on 26 trawlers were part of a fleet of 100 that went out
to sea on Friday and were caught in the storm on Monday, said Barun
Maiti, secretary of the fish traders' association.
"The trawlers were caught in a storm with wind speeds of 80 kilometres
to 100 kilometres (50 miles to 62 miles) per hour this morning, he told
AFP from the coastal town of Digha in West Bengal state.
"We could not contact 26 trawlers..," Maiti said.
Another trawler with 18 fishermen capsized in the Bay of Bengal near
Digha but "fourteen of the men have been rescued and the rest we believe
were carried into the open sea by strong waves," he said.
Indian Coast Guard commandant Gurupdesh Singh said helicopters had been
deployed to locate the missing as the weather office warned of more bad
weather off the West Bengal coast in the coming days.
"A well marked low pressure area can be seen over the northwest Bay of
Bengal that has intensified and caused the depression" resulting in the
storm, said G.C Deb director of the regional weather office in West
Bengal's capital of Kolkata.
"This is all due to the increased activity of the southwest monsoon," he
said adding his office has issued a warning to fishermen not to venture
into the sea for the next two days.
Monsoon rains that sweep India from June to September have caused
extensive flooding in many areas and hundreds of people have been killed
and more than 10 million affected. The rains are nonetheless crucial for
India's agriculture sector.