Eight fishermen were hospitalised in Chattogram after sustaining serious injuries in separate attacks allegedly carried out by pirates in the Sonadia Channel of Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar.
Local fishermen and boat owners said at least 15 fishing trawlers came under repeated attacks in the ‘12 Bam’ area of the sea over the past three days, leaving at least 20 fishermen injured.
They also said 24 fishermen remained missing along with three fishing trawlers after the attacks, raising concern among their families.
Authorities took the eight injured fishermen from Moheshkhali to Chattogram Medical College Hospital early Tuesday. They were identified as Mahmudul Haque Majhi, 39, Lokiyat Ullah, 33, Abdul Mannan, 34, Abdul Majid, 33, Saiful Islam, 30, Mohammad Hasan, 26, Samun, 25, and Kamal Hossain Majhi, 39.
Other injured fishermen received initial treatment at hospitals in Moheshkhali and Cox’s Bazar.
Mahmudul Haque, one of the injured fishermen receiving treatment, said armed men arrived in small boats while they were fishing at sea and attacked their trawler.
The attackers allegedly boarded the trawler, looted valuables and held the fishermen hostage before beating them, he said.
“If security is not strengthened at sea, it is not safe for us to go fishing with our boats,” he said, adding that fishermen were now living in fear of pirate attacks.
Mohammad Amir Hossain, general secretary of Kalarma Chhara Fishermen Welfare Cooperative Society, said a group of 10–12 armed men had been attacking fishing trawlers one after another in the ‘12 Bam’ area west of Sonadia Channel.
He alleged that the attackers held fishermen at gunpoint and looted fish, fishing nets, fuel, food supplies, mobile phones, cash and essential engine parts worth Tk7–8 lakh from each trawler.
According to Amir, nine of the affected trawlers belonged to Mohammad Shah Ghona Ghat in Kalarma Chhara union of Moheshkhali. The injured fishermen returned to the ghat on Monday afternoon and were subsequently sent to hospitals.
However, he said no information had been received about three trawlers and 24 fishermen, urging the authorities to launch an immediate operation to locate them.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard has strengthened patrols and surveillance in the sea areas adjoining Cox’s Bazar, Moheshkhali and Kutubdia to prevent piracy and robbery.
Coast Guard media officer Lieutenant Commander Sabbir Alam Suzan said regular patrols, intelligence surveillance and technology-based monitoring had been intensified to combat pirates and robbers.
He said operations against pirates at sea would be conducted soon.
Cox’s Bazar Life Report
File Photo
