A Bangladeshi fisherman, who swam into the Indian waters of the Bay of Bengal after he was ostensibly forced to jump off a trawler following an attack by pirates was rescued by fishermen on this side of the border who brought him to Raidighi on their trawler. After a fishing trip on board FB Ma Monimala, eight fishermen sailing back home to Raidighi on August 27 spotted the manlater identified as Nizamuddin Mollah (50) of Bagherhat, Bangladeshlying on the banks of Chamta, a small, forested island in the Indian Sunderbans. As the trawler sailed by half a kilometre away, the fishermen spotted Mollah lying on the ground, his hands raised, apparently in a bid to attract the attention of anyone passing by. We realized he was in danger. Initially, we thought he might have been attacked by a tiger. We assumed he was lying injured after somehow managing to extricate himself from the animal’s clutches. I turned my vessel towards Chamta island. Even after we reached there and docked our trawler, when he did not get up to meet us, we looked closely to find him completely unclothed. Four fishermen got off our trawler and reached out to the man and gave him a lungi. He seemed completely exhausted and needed help to even board the trawler, said FB Ma Monimala boatman Anup Porel. On board, Nizamuddin told his recuers that he was new to fishing and had set out on his second fishing trip in the Bay of Bengal. He had left with 14 other fishermen on a trawler around 15 days ago from a fishing harbour in the Bagherhat district of Bangladesh. He then claimed armed pirates on board another vessel attacked their trawler around 8.30pm on August 25. To save ourselves from the pirates, another fisherman and I jumped into the waters. I started swimming in the dark. I remained adrift for one-and-a-half days till I came upon this island. I lost my clothes while swimming and lay on the sand. On seeing your vessel, I realised I had swum into Indian waters, a fisherman on board Ma Monimala quoted Nizamuddin. He was very ill, they said. On reaching Raidighi on Wednesday evening, the fishermen admitted Nizamuddin to Raidighi Hospital, where he was treated and discharged on Thursday morning, when he was then taken to the Raidighi police station. Sunderbans SP Vaibhav Tiwari said, We are verifying his claims. Thereafter, we will take necessary steps.