The fishermen from Barguna made the appeal while sharing their experiences at a press conference organised by the South Asian Partnership (SAP) at Dhaka Reporters' Unity auditorium yesterday.

Their relatives presumed that they have drowned in the sea, they said.

Recounting the harrowing events, Md Alamgir Hossain said, "We sailed the MV Jananee on September 15 for fishing in the Bay of Bengal, but our trawler capsized in the deep sea due to a technical fault three days into the journey."

"In a desperate effort to save our lives, we kept ourselves floated with the help of bamboos tied to fishing nets," he added.

"Fortunately, we were soon rescued by Indian Coast Guards who sent us to nearby port Dhamera in Orissa," Alamgir said.

"We stayed there with the generous support of local people and the Indian government," he added.

In December last year, the fishermen came across a group of human rights activists from the SAP who were on a tour of Bhodrak district.

"Since then, the SAP began to persuade the home and foreign ministries of Bangladesh to bring us back and on completion of long bilateral procedure, we finally reached our home," he added.

Fishermen Dulal Majhee, Md Milon, Md Julhash, Md Nantu Mia, Md Rustam Sardar, Md Siddiqur Rahman, Md Hiru, Md Alamgir, Md A Rab, A Manna, Md Afzal, Md Yunus and Md A Razzak were present at the press conference.

SAP Executive Director Syed Nurul Alam and Programme Coordinator Nadira Mallik were also present on the occasion.