The bodies of six more fishermen have been brought ashore, three days after a trawler sank in the Bay of Bengal off Petuaghat coast in Contai.

Two bodies had been recovered on Friday, the day of the accident. The bodies of the remaining six fishermen were recovered on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Deshpran block development officer Shubhjit Jana said eight people had been killed in the trawler accident. The bodies will be handed over to relatives after autopsy at Contai Subdivisional Hospital.

“The bodies of two fishermen named Safirul Khan and Khurshed Khan were recovered on the day of the accident,” said a source.

The six bodies recovered later were of Kaustav Mandal, 24, from Baratala in Khejuri, East Midnapore, Panchanan Mandal, 53, from South-North Kanthi in East Midnapore, Bamapada Hajra, 55, from Jalal Khan Bar in East Midnapore, Govinda Pal, 49, from Kendamari in Nandigram, East Midnapore, Sanjay Giri, 36, from Kalagachhia in Khejuri, East Midnapore, and Joydev Karan, 52, from Baratala in Khejuri, East Midnapore.

Fisherman Deepak Mandal, who survived the accident, said many of the dead were sleeping when the trawler had sunk. “That is why no one jumped into the water.”

Sheikh Iqbal Hossain, the driver of the trawler, survived after being afloat in the water for about 30 hours with the help of flotsam.

He is currently undergoing treatment at Tamluk Hospital, East Midnapore.

Chief medical officer of health, Midnapore, Bivash Roy Said: “Sheikh Iqbal is under treatment at Tamluk District Hospital. After being at sea for three days, his lungs are showing multiple opacities. The patient was brought on Saturday in a precarious condition. Thanks to the efforts by the superintendent and his CCU team, the patient is a lot better now, though still not out of danger. The superintendent provided all logistics from even other districts and private diagnostic labs to support the CCU team.”