Six fishermen, who were missing at sea since Tuesday after their trawler capsized, were rescued in a joint operation by the Indian Coast Guard and another trawler in the Bay of Bengal, a senior coast guard official said.

The six fishermen had set out in a wooden trawler from the Soula fishing harbour in Contai, East Midnapore, on Tuesday morning.

The fisheries department that monitors the movement of fishing boats at sea alerted the Indian Coast Guard that there was no communication from the trawler from 9.46pm on Tuesday, the official added.

“The fisheries department sought our assistance to rescue the fishermen as they thought that the trawler had gone missing at sea,” the coast guard officer said.

A hovercraft and a fast patrol vessel were dispatched to the last known location of the trawler on Wednesday morning.

They started searching the area. “We then received a message that another fishing boat had spotted the remnants of the capsized trawler off the Sagar Island near Datum. Our ship was sent to the area,” the officer said.

In the meantime, the crew of the other trawler — Maa Kali — managed to rescue the six fishermen who were adrift at sea. They were holding onto pieces of their wooden trawler to stay afloat.

According to the officer, the coast guard ship remained in the area until the other boat picked up the fishermen.

The fishermen were taken to the Contai sub-divisional hospital. “All were found to be in good health,” the officer said.

An official of the fisheries department quoting the fishermen said the sea was rough when they started and the engine suffered mechanical problems.

“The boat capsized as the water turned choppy. Moreover, the engine had stopped working....,” another coast guard officer said.