17 fishermen abducted by pirates

The trawler owners carried ransom money amounting to Tk 5 lakh with them as per demand of pirates for release of the fishermen and crew of fishing trawler, FB Ismail. They will hand over the ransom money to the agents of pirates in Khulna. Later, pirates will release the fishermen on receipt of information from the agents by cell phone.

Earlier, 18 out of 26 abducted fishermen and crew were released from pirates on payment of Tk 1 lakh as ransom on Sunday. Pirates abducted them in Katka area of the Sundarbans coast on September 30 where they went to rescue the trawlers capsized by tornado on September 19.

Fate of five other abducted fishermen is still unknown till filing of the report yesterday night, district trawler owners' association sources said.