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| Sunday, 17 November 2002 |
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34 Indian fishermen feared dead in killer cyclone found safe CALCUTTA, Nov 16 (AFP) - Thirty-four fishermen feared dead in a cyclone that hit the coastal areas of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal have returned home safe, officials said Saturday. "I am happy to say that 34 fishermen have returned home late Friday and early Saturday aboard four trawlers," West Bengal's Fisheries Minister Kiranmoy Nanda told AFP. He said the Indian coast guard was still mounting an intensive search and rescue operation. Two trawlers had been listed as missing while nine had capsized in the cyclonic storm that hit the Bay of Bengal late Tuesday. On Thursday, West Bengal Chief Minister Budhadev Bhattacharya had put the number of dead at 49. With the return of the fishermen Saturday, about 75 people remain officially unaccounted for. However, local fishermen's associations Saturday said several hundred of their colleagues were still missing. They accused the state government of deliberately giving a low estimate of the number of dead and missing to avoid paying heavy compensation. Cyclones and floods are common in the heavily populated low-lying coastal regions of eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh. A cyclone in India's eastern state of Orissa three years ago killed at least 10,000 people. |
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