Bhubaneswar: In a significant development in the incident of a fishing trawler going missing off the West Bengal coast earlier this month, bodies of at least nine fishermen have been recovered, while efforts are on by authorities to trace six others.

The trawler, carrying 15 fishermen, had left the Shankarpur Fish Landing Centre in West Bengal on July 2 for hilsa fishing. Contact with the crew was maintained until July 4, after which all communication with the vessel was lost.

After an extensive search, the trawler was traced near Rakhtachar Island, around 16 kilometres from Bakkhali, on Sunday. A joint team comprising police from Gobardhanpur police station in South 24 Parganas district, the Forest Department and the Indian Coast Guard located the vessel and brought it to Sitarampur in Gobardhanpur for a detailed search operation.

During the overnight search, rescue teams recovered the bodies of nine fishermen from the trawler. The bodies have been sent to Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Search operations are continuing in different parts of the sea to locate the remaining six fishermen.

The incident has left the families of the missing fishermen devastated. Among those still untraceable are three brothers from Uluda village in Bhogarai block of Odisha's Balasore district. They have been identified as Rabindra Majhi, Jagannath Majhi and Jayaram Majhi, sons of Madhusudan Majhi.

The three brothers were among the 15 fishermen from Odisha and West Bengal who had ventured into the Bay of Bengal to catch hilsa fish.

The India Meteorological Department had issued warnings of heavy rain and stormy weather over the Bay of Bengal due to a low-pressure system during the period. However, it remains unclear whether the crew received the weather alert before communication with the trawler was lost.