At least 16 salt laden trawlers, which sank last Wednesday in the Anwara coast area, are still missing.
Many of the crew members were rescued, and the rest survived by swimming ashore.
Police and sources concerned said they have almost lost hope of rescuing the missing trawlers as they could not trace the location of the trawlers.
According to sources, at least 20 trawlers loaded with salt from Kutubdia, Maheshkhali and Banshkhali in Cox's Bazar were caught by a storm in the sea at Anwara coast.
After the incident took place, 4 of the trawlers were rescued after they were found in Sangu river. The estimated price of each trawler is Tk 30-50 lakh, the concerned claim.
Bar Auliya River Police in-charge Titu Dutta said that Coast Guard and River Police have already rescued 34 people of different trawlers. The rest managed to swim ashore. Personnel from the Coast
Guard and Naval Police joined the rescue operation.
He said that the Coast Guard and River Police rescued 34 people after the trawler sank in the Bay of Bengal while going to Chattogram city with salt from Kutubdia, Maheshkhali and Banshkhali. So far, there has been no complaint about the disappearance of the trawlers.
Chattogram River Police, Superintendent of Police AFM Nizam Uddin said, "The trawlers loaded with salt that got caught in the storm in the Bay of Bengal came from Kutubdia, Pekua area of Cox's Bazar. We initially estimated that around 15-16 trawlers sank.
