10 bodies found in trawler off Cox’s Bazar coast

Police have recovered the bodies of 10 people with their hands and legs tied from a trawler near the coast in the resort town of Cox’s Bazar.

The trawler was found in the Nazirartek Point area near the estuary of the Bankkhali River around 3pm on Sunday, said Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam, superintendent of district police.

Some locals believe they were killed due to a dispute between fishermen as families started identifying them as people from professions other than fishing.

They could not be identified immediately as they had decomposed to a level where their facial features were mostly unrecognisable, Superintendent Mahfuzul said.

Asked about the suspicion of the locals, he said police had news that some people had left home 10-12 days ago but did not return. They had told their families that they would go to the sea or showed some other reasons to leave home.

“We’re getting all kinds of information. We can confirm everything once the investigation ends,” he said in the evening.

He earlier said they believed the bodies were of Bangladeshi citizens. “We’ve sent those to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital for autopsy. We may know the motive behind the murders if we can identify them.”

The Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Bureau of Investigation were also working on the case.

Rubel Mia, a local, said fishermen in another trawler towed the ill-fated vessel near the coast after spotting it half-sunken on Saturday afternoon. They thought the trawler had capsized in a storm two days ago.

Locals called the police after seeing a leg in the trawler at night, but the vessel drifted away.

Police returned to the coast on Sunday morning and waited for low tide. They also called the Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Khalilur Rahman, a senior officer at Cox’s Bazar Fire Station, said they used a dinghy to inspect the trawler and found the bodies locked inside a cold storage

“It appears from the decomposition and foul odour that the victims died 10 to 15 days ago. Signs of wounds cannot be confirmed, but it seems they were killed.”

Josna Begum from Chakaria identified one of the bodies as Md Tareque Mia, 20, a mason who left home on Apr 7.

Josna later learned that two other youths of the area, Saifullah and Shahjahan, were also missing.

Saiful Islam, 23, a farm labour, was identified among the dead by his father Shahab Mia from Moheshkhali. Shahab said Saiful also left home on Apr 7 and did not return.

The father got information on Apr 9 that Saiful and some other people had gone fishing in the sea.

People who gathered outside the hospital’s mortuary said families identified some other victims but decided not to claim the bodies.

Aktar Kamal, councillor of the local ward, said: “Many have claimed that it was related to an incident of piracy in the sea 15 days ago. We can’t confirm anything. No one has claimed ownership of the boat.”