By IANS
Bhubaneswar : At least eight Thai fishermen, missing since Friday after their fishing vessels capsized in the Bay of Bengal, were feared dead as a rescue team failed to spot them by Sunday.
Two fishing vessels in which at least 36 Thai nationals were travelling capsized Friday in the sea near the port town of Paradeep, some 120 km from Orissa's capital Bhubaneswar, due to a storm triggered by a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal.
While personnel of the Indian Coast Guard, Central Industrial Security Force and local police rescued 28 of them off the Orissa coast, others were still missing, Rajkishor Paikray of the Paradip Police Station told IANS.
The missing fishermen might not have survived, he said.
Those rescued have been provided shelter by police at Paradeep, he said. "We have sent a message to the Thailand embassy in New Delhi for their repatriation," Paikray said.
The Coast Guard conducted an aerial survey of the sea to trace the missing but without success, Coast Guard commandant Vikrant Parasar said.
"We have also informed coast guards at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and at Haldia in West Bengal about the missing fishermen," he said.
Police too have alerted fellow policemen of nearby districts and neighbouring states about the incident, he said.