Bangla storm toll rises to 91; 26 bodies found today

Dhaka, Sep 23 (UNI) The death toll in the last Tuesday's storms in Bangladesh in which hundreds of fishing-boats had overturned in the Bay, has reached 91 with the recovery of 26 dead bodies today.

Officials in the country Southern coastal districts said the 26 dead bodies were recovered from Dublarchar, Katka and Kachikhali areas around the sprawling seaside mangrove forests of the Sundarbans.

However, survivors apprehended that some 1,500 other fishermen might have had watery burial following the sudden sea storms as they had seen hundreds of bodies floating in the Bay.

Coastguard west-zone commander Badruddoza Chowdhury said Navy, coastguard, police and forest department rescuers continued their search for the missing fishermen, but the rescue operation was being affected with the persisting inclement weather and surging waves in the sea.

Meanwhile, a protracted search for the Commanding Officer of Navy ship B N S Shaheed Farid, Lt Commander Firoz Kabir, missing since his vessel dived in the sea off Khulna coast during the night storms, has proved futile so far. Even the Navy ship could not be salvaged.

Official and local sources said at least 25 boats, some 630 trawlers and the Navy ship were tossed over in the Bay by the violent storms, throwing about 3,500 fishermen and the Naval commander into the seawaters.

A depression over the Bay had triggered the storms and left a trail of shower while passing through the country, crippling normal life and business.

The low-lying areas in coastal districts have been flooded amid incessant rain in the last four days, leaving several thousand people marooned.

Mr Mahbubul Alam, a coastguard official, said rescue call was being made out with the help of mikes from the salvage boats in the canals and rivers in the Sundarban areas to find out anyone alive.

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