Mandarmani (Bengal): The bodies of three Odia fishermen, who were drowned in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast on Sunday afternoon, washed ashore in various parts of the beach here on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as Ajay Behera, 32, Kush Behera, 62, and Jhad-eswar Pal, 49. All of them were natives of Balasore in Odisha.

They were out to catch hilsa when their motorised boat capsized due to inclement weather about 10 kilometres off the Bengal coast on Sunday. There were four fishermen in the boat all of whom were drowned. The body of one fisherman was earlier found on a beach in Odisha.

A broken part of the boat also washed ashore on a beach near Digha in Bengal.

Rajkumar Debnath, the officer in charge of Mandarmani Coastal police station, said: "The family members of the deceased Odia fishermen came and identified the three bodies."

Ajay's father Atul Behera said: "My son was among the fishermen who had gone to catch hilsa along with others in a motorboat on Saturday morning. They were all supposed to return on Sunday afternoon. But, we heard that the trawler had capsized and my son was missing ever since. Then I heard that some bodies have washed ashore in Bengal's Mandarmani. I rushed here and found my son is among the dead."

"Several fishermen from various other boats that capsized on the same day were rescued by local sea-going fishermen. But, these four fishermen were missing. At last, their bodies have been found on beaches in Bengal and Odisha," said chairman of Balasore Fishermen and Fish Traders' Association Bikash Das.

Additional superintendent of police (rural) Indrajit Basu, who is also in charge of the coastal area, said that the three bodies had been handed over to the respective families after post-mortem.

"We have contacted our counterparts in Odisha and came to know that the broken part of the boat that was washed up on Digha beach belonged to one of the three boats that had capsized on Sunday," said Basu.