Kolkata, July 13 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the families of the nine fishermen who were found dead after a fishing trawler, which had gone missing earlier this month, was recovered from the Bay of Bengal near the Sundarbans in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, officials said.

“The loss of lives due to the capsizing of a boat in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal is deeply painful. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. May the injured recover at the earliest. An ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000,” the Prime Minister said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Monday.

According to officials, personnel from the police, the Forest Department and the Indian Coast Guard located the sunken trawler in the Raktachar area near the Chulkathi forest on Sunday. The vessel was subsequently recovered and brought to the Sitarampur area under the jurisdiction of the Gobardhanpur Police Station. During a search of the trawler, the bodies of nine fishermen were found inside.

Six other fishermen who were on board the vessel remain untraced.

The trawler, identified as ‘FB Maa Kali’, had left the Shankarpur Fisheries Port in East Midnapore district on July 2 with 15 fishermen on board. Communication with the vessel was reportedly lost after July 5 following adverse weather conditions in the region. A joint search operation involving the police, the Coast Guard, the Forest Department and fishermen’s organisations had been underway under Chitrak Bhattacharya, Deputy Field Director of the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, since then.

The recovered bodies have been sent to Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital for post-mortem examination. A fresh joint search operation was launched on Monday to locate the remaining fishermen. Authorities fear the death toll could rise further.

Minister of State for Sundarban Affairs Dipankar Jana visited the trawler after it was brought ashore and reviewed the search operation. He said the state government had been informed about the incident and discussions were underway regarding further administrative action.

The trawler was found overturned near the Chulkathi forest, around 35 km off the Bakkhali coast in South 24 Parganas district, before being towed to Sitarampur Ghat on Sunday evening. The bodies were recovered during the subsequent search of the vessel.

–IANS

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