Pirates take away 17 trawlers in Meghna

Five of the injured named Manna, Mizan, Mokhles, Shamsuddin and Kamrul were recovered by fellow fishermen from the river.

Among the injured, Bashir, Abdullah and Yasin were admitted to Tazumuddin Health Complex and Jahangir Majhi, Aziz and Alamgir were admitted to Manpura Upazila Health Complex in a critical condition in the afternoon.

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Pirates led by Alauddin of Bashir Bahini attacked the trawlers near Moulobhir Char under Tazumuddin and Char Shasuddin in Manpura upazilas at about 9 on Friday night, according to victims and sources in coast guards.

The piracy continued till Saturday morning. The trawlers were owned by Kiron and Karim Dewan of Munshiganj, Jalil Sardar, Humyun Molla, Halim, Kadir, Zahir, Sikandar, Basit, Selim, Sahjahan, Bashir and Kashem Majhi, Yunus Sardar and other fish-traders of Bhola, Patuakhali and Barguna districts, victims said. The pirates demanded Tk 20,000 as ransom for release of each trawler from Hatiya area.

This way over 15 hijacked fishing trawlers were freed on payment of ransom in last two weeks, victims said.

While contacted, Coast Guard member Sikandar Ali acknowledged the fact saying miscreants escaped easily from the law enforcers some times due to non-cooperation of trawler owners and crew.