AlHijjah 16, 1433, Nov 1, 2012, SPA - As many as 130 people may have drowned off the coast of southern Bangladesh after a boat carrying passengers seeking illegally to enter Malaysia sank in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladeshi authorities said Thursday. Details have only recently begun to emerge about the sinking, which happened early Sunday, according to Lt.-Col. Zahid Hassan, the commander of the Bangladeshi border guard battalion in Teknaf, the area from which the boat is believed to have set off. Just six survivors have been recovered from the 136 people reported to have been on the vessel, Hassan said. All the others remain missing. Authorities are seeking nine people identified as operators of the human trafficking ring that organized the boat, he was quoted as saying by CNN.
