20 fishermen missing after boat capsizes in Bay of Bengal

DHAKA: At least 20 people were

missing

after a

boat

carrying 21

fishermen

capsized in the

Bay of Bengal

, media reported on Tuesday.

Xinhua news agency reported that authorities have been searching for 20 people missing in the sea off Bangladesh. A survivor was pulled out from rough sea where their

fishing vessel

capsized in cyclonic storm Jawad.

"The vessel carrying 21 fishermen capsized in the Bay of Bengal and 20 of them are missing," Golam Mostafa Chowdhury, president of the Barguna District Fishermen's Trawler Owners' Association in Barguna, some 180 km south of capital Dhaka, reported Xinhua news agency today.

Mostafa Chowdhury said: "We've come to know from the survivor Monday night that the vessel overturned and sank in the Bay of Bengal."

He said that the fisherman, Hafizur Rahman, who was rescued by crew members of another vessel at about 11.00 pm local time Monday, has informed that there were 21 fishermen on board the fishing vessel.

Jahangir Mallick, the Barguna district's police chief, told Xinhua that the boat capsized near a remote island.