A wooden boat carrying four members of a New Zealand family capsized at the mouth of the Sonadia Channel in the Bay of Bengal off the Cox’s Bazar coast on Tuesday morning.

Three of the foreigners, including two women, were rescued by local fishermen, but a 16-year-old boy from the family remains missing. A search operation continued until 5:00pm, but the teenager could not be found. The Coast Guard and Fire Service are conducting the search in the Maheshkhali Channel.

Confirming the incident, Sheikh Mohammad Ali, officer-in-charge of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model Police Station, told Prothom Alo that the four-member New Zealand family had set out from the Nazirartek coast at around 9:15am on a wooden boat to cross the sea channel to Sonadia Island in Maheshkhali. When the boat reached the middle of the channel, it began rocking heavily after being hit by large waves. At one point, a wave overturned the boat, throwing all four foreigners into the water.