News reports from Bangladesh say hundreds of fishermen are missing following a powerful storm in the Bay of Bengal that battered several coastal districts.
The delayed reports say scores of fishing trawlers were swept away by the storm that hit the region late Saturday and lasted for some 20 hours.
A VOA reporter in the capital, Dhaka, says many trawlers were driven as far west as the Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal.
Most fishing boats in Bangladesh lack communication equipment making them unable to monitor weather conditions.