At least 33 of the 49 fishermen from Diamond Harbour, who had gone missing along with three boats amid turbulent weather in the Bay of Bengal on Saturday, were located on Monday afternoon, around 50 hours later.

Rescue teams of fishermen, supported by the district administration, found the fishermen, exhausted and traumatised, drifting aimlessly in their damaged vessels.

The two teams had launched a search operation early on Monday. Around 3pm, they spotted the missing mariners, bringing an end to the panic that had gripped their families.

The Indian Coast Guard also deployed an aircraft and a large ship to assist in
the search.

Surajit Bag, assistant director of fisheries (marine), told The Telegraph that some missing fishermen had been located. “Efforts are on to bring them back to shore,” he said.

The South 24-Parganas district administration could not confirm the exact number of rescued men by evening.

“Out of the three missing boats, two have been spotted so far. Our rescue teams are working to bring the fishermen back, but communication has been challenging due to poor connectivity at sea,”
Bag said.

Unconfirmed reports from fishermen’s unions stated that two of the boats were located around 40km from Bakkhali harbour.

Bijan Maiti, general secretary of the West Bengal United Fishermen’s Association, said that 33 mariners had been rescued so far.

“We expect one group to return by tonight and the other by Tuesday morning. We are optimistic about locating the remaining fishermen soon,” Maiti said.

District administration sources said fresh efforts to find the remaining 16 missing fishermen would resume on Tuesday.

“Two boats from Namkhana will be dispatched to continue the search. We are hopeful that the fishermen, who were swept away by the high tide, are still in good shape,” said an official.

The missing fishermen had set out from the Sultanpur fishing harbour in Diamond Harbour last Tuesday. As the weather worsened and a red alert was issued, they
attempted to return to shore but were caught in a violent storm at sea.

Fishermen from Diamond Harbour said that two boats, Shri Riya and Shri Hari, became inoperable when their engines failed.

“The boats were swept away, and while nearby vessels tried to assist them by using chains to tow them, the rough seas made it too risky to continue. Wireless communication failed, leaving sailors stranded. We then sought help from the Coast Guard,” a local fisherman said.

In a related incident on Saturday, a Bangladeshi fishing boat, MV Koushik, capsized in the turbulent sea. Twelve fishermen were rescued by Indian fishermen and brought to Kakdwip.

Widespread damage

The stormy weather has also caused widespread disruption on land.

Incessant rain over the past three days has inundated large parts of the Sunderbans Delta, affecting districts such as South and North 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Birbhum, Bankura, and East Midnapore.

A 300-metre stretch of the Hatania-Doania earthen dyke in Namkhana’s Narayanganj area breached, flooding low-lying areas and displacing residents. There are also concerns about cracks in other dykes in the region, raising fears of further inundation.