Four Bangladeshi migrants were rescued from the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Escondido of Colombia after the boat carrying them sank.

Ten more Bangladeshis are still missing. A Nepali national was rescued from a nearby area, local media reported.

At least 18 migrants were on the boat, but the whereabouts of the others remain unknown.

On the night of June 22, a group of fishermen found the four Bangladeshis in the waters of Puerto Escondido.

A few hours later, another group of citizens found a Nepali citizen in Fuerte Island, an insular area of ​​Cartagena.

Later, members of the Coast Guard and the General Maritime Directorate (DIMAR) joined the rescue operation.

Colombia's Caracol Television reported that the migrants' boat had an accident while sailing from Colombia's Necoclí to Panama.

Pictures of three of the four rescued Bangladeshis were published in the Colombian media, but no one was identified.

The rescued Bangladeshis are in the custody of the Colombian immigration authorities. They are currently in San Jeronimo de Monteria Hospital.

Their conditions are reported to be critical as they suffered from heat stroke, hypothermia and malnutrition, authorities said, adding that one of them was in an alarming state.

"They were trapped for several hours at the place where they were found. They all have signs of dehydration and one of them is in critical condition," said the Puerto Escondido mayor.

Captain Luz Perela Gonzalbez Silva, commander of the Coast Guard station, told local media that the rescued migrants said their boat had sunk after a crash. However, the matter has not yet been confirmed because their statements about what happened is not very clear.

"The rescued migrants did not have passports or any documents, which made it difficult to learn their full identities," he said.

"It was confirmed by an interpreter that these migrants were of Asian descent, more precisely Bangladeshis, who had left Necoclí for Panama," said RCCO Manuel Vargas, a representative of the municipality of Puerto Escondido.

The final destination of this migration route in the Urabá Antioquia region is the United States through the Darien jungle in Panama.

The Colombian Navy says fishermen are searching for the missing, along with three Coast Guard units.

The identity of one of the missing Bangladeshis who was on board, has been confirmed to The Daily Star by family members.

He was identified as Sheikh Didar of Amashya Para in Sonaimuri upazila of Noakhali. Besides, it was confirmed that another missing person was from Shibpur of the same upazila but his name could not be known.

Nur Islam, elder brother of Sheikh Didar, told The Daily Star that his brother had left the country a year ago. For a long time, he worked in Suriname, a small country on the Atlantic coast. Didar had arrived in Colombia via Brazil a few days ago. The family last talked with him on Sunday when they came to know that Didar would leave for Panama the next day.

The 14 Bangladeshis stayed in a hotel in Colombia for some time. There are 13 Bangladeshis in a picture taken before they left the hotel. It is believed that another person took the picture.

Ezaz Mahmud is a freelance journalist.