Indian navy rescues 33 Bangladeshis

The Indian navy rescued 33 Bangladeshi survivors and recovered a body from the Bay of Bengal yesterday, a day after Cyclone Mora battered the country's southeastern coast, leaving a trail of destruction and rendering thousands homeless. 

The crew of Indian offshore patrol vessel INS Sumitra, which was carrying relief materials for the cyclone-affected people in Bangladesh, spotted the survivors floating in the sea, according to a high official of Bangladesh foreign ministry.

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They launched a rescue operation around 90 nautical miles south of Chittagong coast, Captain DK Sharma, spokesperson of the Indian navy, said in a Tweet.

Indian news agency PTI reported that a newly acquired P8-I aircraft of the Indian Eastern Naval Command also joined the rescue operation.

Some of the 33 people the ship fished out of sea on its deck. Photo: High Commission of India/ ISPR

In a message to the media outlets at 12:52pm yesterday, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said the survivors could be from a sunken boat or huts washed away into the sea during the cyclone.

So far 33 survivors from Maheshkhali were rescued and a body was recovered from the Bay of Bengal, it mentioned.

It further said that once the search and rescue operations were completed or taken over by Bangladesh navy, INS Sumitra would sail to Chittagong to unload the relief materials.

“The search and relief operations are being coordinated with the Bangladesh navy,” added the high commission, which first informed the media about the Indian ship's rescue operation around 11:00am.

Talking to The Daily Star, Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam, secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit) at Bangladesh foreign ministry, said the Indian ship entered Bangladesh's maritime territory upon permission from the authorities concerned.

“The Indian government sought permission for entry of its naval ship [into Bangladesh maritime territory] for bringing relief materials for the cyclone-affected people, and the Bangladesh government gave the approval,” he said.

Khurshed mentioned that the ship would reach Chittagong this morning and unload relief materials, including medicine and food items.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh navy rescued 20 Bangladeshi fishermen from the sea near Kutubdia.

In a press release yesterday, the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate said that immediately after the cyclone hit the country, the navy deployed 15 ships, a helicopter and a patrol aircraft for conducting rescue operations in the coastal areas of Cox's Bazar, Saint Martin's Island, Teknaf, Chittagong and Khulna as well as in deep sea.

Split into five groups, the navy ships launched a massive search and rescue operation in the entire maritime area of Bangladesh. And navy ship Khadem rescued the 20 fishermen from a boat that went out of order in deep sea, it said.

The navy is also distributing emergency relief materials and providing medical services in the affected areas.

A Bangladesh Air Force helicopter conducting rescue operation in cyclone Mora-hit area yesterday. Photo: High Commission of India/ ISPR

EXTENT OF DAMAGE

Around three lakh people in 16 coastal districts have been affected by Cyclone Mora, according to the disaster management ministry.

Ministry officials said farmlands and many houses were damaged in 31 upazilas of Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Rangamati, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Barisal, Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Jhalakathi, Barguna, Khulna and Satkhira.

At least seven people were killed in Cox's Bazar, Rangamati and Bandarban after the cyclone made landfall on Tuesday morning.

It affected at least 14,250 people in Chittagong and damaged many Rohingya refugee homes in Cox's Bazar.

An official estimate by Chittagong district administration shows 2,745 houses were destroyed completely and 2,596 houses damaged partially by the cyclone.

In a press release yesterday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the cyclone completely destroyed around 20 percent refugee homes in Cox's Bazar.

A post-cyclone assessment by the UN Refugee Agency found that most of the refugee homes were damaged to different degrees.

In addition to the local population, many of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees hosted in camps, makeshift sites and local villages in the area were affected by the natural disaster, it said.

“We managed to avoid any major human casualties in camps by coordinating with the local authorities and preparing the refugees before the cyclone.”

The UNHCR is distributing plastic sheets to provide shelter. Refugees with specific needs, including children, pregnant women, the elderly and the disabled, have been moved to safer structures temporarily, it added.