More than 300 fishermen were posted missing on Tuesday after a storm triggered high swells along the Bangladesh coast, a local official said. The storm brought heavy rain and spawned a sea surge up to 10 feet (3 metres) high over the past two days near Cox's Bazar on the Bay of Bengal. Approximately 100 boats with about 400 people were caught in the storm but only 52 people had returned by Tuesday morning, the leader of a local fishermen's association said. "The others are still missing but we hope they will come back soon," he said, adding that many fishermen missing after previous storms had eventually managed to reach shore. Weather officials said the sea would remain rough for a few more days due to a depression over the Bay of Bengal. Most Bangladeshi fishing boats lack safety and communication equipment and are unable to monitor weather forecasts. Storms kill hundreds of Bangladeshis every year and the country's worst cyclone left about 143,000 people dead in April 1991, according to a report of Reuters.
