KOLKATA: Six days after being takenhostage by a band of pirates mid-sealast Friday, 10 fishermen and the driver on board have been found safe in a Bangladeshi island of the Sunderbans. However, mystery shrouds the whereabouts of the pirates and whether they freed theirhostages or the victims overpowered them.
After sailing for six days on the Bay of Bengal , trawler Ma Tara ran out offuel and floated mid-sea for a few nautical miles before docking at Shilar Chor Island in Bangladesh on Thursday evening.
After spending the night in the trawler, its driver Narayan Das and other fishermen got off and began walking through the forest in Shilar Chor on Friday morning. Soon, they hit a road, raising their hope of finding human habitat on the island. They then met guards of the Bangladeshi forest department patrolling along the road. The fishermen were then taken to the forest office after being questioned. An officer there assured them all help and allowed Das to make a call to his owner Ranjit Halder in Kakdwip, South 24-Parganas.
"We spoke for just seven minutes and the phone link apparently snapped. He told me that he and his passengers were safe and in good health. The trawler too was safe. I would have asked him about the pirates but the line snapped. I have been trying to call back at the number but am not getting through," said Halder.
Later, the Kakdwip Fishermen's Unnayan Samity secretary Bijon Maity managed to get through to the Shilar Chor forest office number in Bangladesh's Bagerhat district. He was told that Das and his passengershad been taken to the local Sharom Khola police station.
"We are trying to verify this information and are contacting the Bangladesh authorities to bring them back," said South 24-Parganas district magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam.
A band of 17 brigands attacked three of 12 fishing trawlers that had sailed out to sea from Kakdwip on January 26 with a large group of fishermen, each carrying 10-12 of them. After a night halt at Kendo Island in the Sunderbans that night, the fishermen sailed out the next morning when three trawlers -- Ma basanti I, Ma Basanti II and Ma Tara -- fell behind the others. Seizing the moment, a band of 17 pirates hidingin the forests on Kendo Island boarded their mechanized boat and waylaid the three trawlers. The brigands launched a fierce attack with firearms after splitting themselves into groups that boardedall three trawlers.
Three fishermen on board the Ma Basanti I trawler were killed in indiscriminate firing by the brigandswhile fishermen on board the Ma Basanti II trawler managed to overpower five of their attackers who were later arrested.
On sighting police patrol boats heading towards them, 12 of the pirates sped away on board Ma Tara and their mechanized boat, taking 11 people hostage.
Fishermen traced to Bangladesh island - The Times of India
