ft) long and 15 m (50 ft) wide. It is part of a current salvage operation. 1914: September 10 - SS Indus: A steamship that was captured and scuttled by SMS Emden. 1942: Japanese cruiser Yura of the Second Expeditionary Fleet, Malay Force, attacked merchant ships in the Bay of Bengal. April 7 - SS Selma City: Attacked by Japanese bombers in the Bay of Bengal, about 25 miles (40 km) offshore from Vizagapatam, India. April 9 - HMS Hermes: The world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, which sunk after receiving 40 direct hits 70 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter/bombers off the coast of Sri Lanka. 1971: December 3 – Pakistan Navy submarine PNS Ghazi sunk under mysterious circumstances, near Visakhapatnam, in the Bay of Bengal. Significance Economic importance One of the first trading ventures along the Bay of Bengal was The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, more commonly referred to as the British East India Company. Gopalpur-on-Sea was one of their main trading centers. Other trading companies along the Bay of Bengal shorelines were the English East India Company and the French East India Company. BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) supports free trade internationally around the Bay of Bengal between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project is a new venture proposed which would create a channel for a shipping route to link the Gulf of Mannar with the Bay of Bengal. This would connect India from east to west without the necessity of going around Sri Lanka. Thoni and catamaran fishing boats of fishing villages thrive along the Bay of Bengal shorelines. Fishermen can catch between 26 and 44 species of marine fish. In one year, the average catch is two million tons of fish from the Bay of Bengal alone. Approximately 31% of the world's coastal fishermen live and work on the bay. Geostrategic importance The Bay of Bengal is centrally located in South and Southeast Asia. It lies at the center of two huge economic blocks, the SAARC and ASEAN. It influences China's southern landlocked region in the north and major sea ports of Bangladesh and India. Bangladesh, China, India, and have forged naval cooperation agreements with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia to increase cooperation in checking terrorism in the high seas. The Bay of Bengal's connection of South Asia to