Overview
- The fishing trawler FB Joy Ma Kali left Shankarpur on July 2 and was located near Bagher Char before being towed to Sitarampur after search teams found the overturned vessel on July 12.
- Rescuers recovered nine badly decomposed bodies from the wreckage and sent the remains to Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital for autopsy and DNA identification because visual ID was not possible.
- Six crew members remain untraced and joint searches by the Coast Guard, Navy, police, forest officials and local fishermen continue using drones and helicopters to scan the Sundarbans waterways.
- Officials say preliminary evidence points to the trawler capsizing in rough weather but a formal inquiry has been ordered to establish the exact cause.
- The Prime Minister’s Office announced Rs 2 lakh from the PMNRF for next of kin and the disaster has left fishing communities, including families from Odisha’s Balasore, facing acute grief and economic hardship.