One more body of a fisherman was found on Tuesday (June 14, 2026) from the tragic trawler that went missing off the West Bengal coast almost 11 days ago, taking the total number of deaths to 10.
“Prima facie, the trawler was carrying 15 fishermen. It was capsized around a week ago. On Monday (June 13, 2026) morning, nine bodies of the fishermen have been recovered. Their bodies were stuck in the trawler, which was traced in Bagher Chowk Island in the Sundarbans region on Sunday afternoon after an intense search operation. Another person’s body was also stuck in the trawler that was found today,” said Superintendent of Police, Sundarbans Police District, Biswa Chand Thakur.
Five more people from the boat are still untraceable for whom a Rescue operation is underway.
According to the police officials, the vessel, called Joy Maa Kali, sailed from Shankarpur in Purba Medinipur district and was recovered from the Sundarbans area of South 24 Parganas on Sunday (July 12, 2026).
Distress call
“They left the coast on July 2, then there was no contact with them. Connection was established with them on July 8 when they gave a distress call that their engine was not working and asked for help. Other fishermen were informed, but no one could find them,” Joy Krishna Haldar, general secretary of the United Fishermen Association of West Bengal, told The Hindu.
The boat was finally traced at Bagher Chowk Island on Sunday and then it was brought to Gobardhanpur to pull out the bodies.
Sources said the fishermen in the trawler were from Digha, Nadia, Howrah, and East Medinipur in West Bengal, and from Odisha. They said the sea was turbulent amid adverse weather conditions and heavy rain in the past two weeks.
The Coast Guard, Indian Navy, West Bengal Police, the State’s fire and forest departments, and other fishermen are conducting search operations. The nine decomposed bodies have been sent to Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital for post-mortem.
Following the development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also declared an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh for the family of the deceased from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.
Published – July 14, 2026 10:08 pm IST
