Kolkata:
Forty trawlers carrying 640 fishermen have gone missing in the Bay of Bengal while two others sank following a storm off the coast of West Bengal last evening.
Of the 32 people on board the two trawlers, which capsized nearly 200 kilometres off the Diamond Harbour near Kolkata, 25 have been rescued while seven are still missing.
"We have been trying to contact the trawlers," Fishermen's Welfare Association chief Bijan Maity said. "All our efforts were in vain because of the inclement weather and storm," he told AFP.
Efforts are on to locate the missing trawlers and the Coast Guard has been alerted, Sunderban Development Minister Manturam Pakhira said. The coast guard was preparing to search for the trawlers using a boat and an aircraft after receiving "distress calls" from the association about the fishermen, an official said.
Meanwhile, the rescued fishermen are undergoing treatment at a local hospital.