Kolkata, Sep 16 (IANS): Three fishing trawlers, with 49 fishermen on board, have gone missing in the sea off West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, and authorities have mounted a search to locate them and rescue the stranded men.

According to the family members of the missing fishermen, several fishing trawlers left for deep–sea fishing from the Sultanpur fishing harbour in the Diamond Harbour area in South 24 Parganas district on September 10, and were supposed to return on September 15.

However, on Sunday, while the other fishing trawlers returned to the harbour, the three, with 49 fishermen, did not.

Search operations to track the three missing trawlers are already on. Besides search operations through rescue trawlers on the sea, helicopters are also being used for aerial searches.

The Coast Guard authorities have also been informed.

As per the latest information available from fishermen on the trawlers who have returned, the engines of the three trawlers somehow malfunctioned and the propellers stopped working, leading to the boats getting stuck. Attempts by crews of the other trawlers to connect with the stuck trawlers through ropes failed because of the strong currents.

"Had we been able to connect these trawlers with ours through rope, we could have dragged them back to the harbour,” said a fisherman whose trawler safely returned.

The family members of the missing fishermen are quite tense about their future. They have also expressed their ire towards the local administration for not providing them with updated information about the results of the search operations.

"Our earnest request to the administration is that at least we are provided with the right and updated information considering the state of mind we are in now,” said a family member of one of the missing fishermen.