All the 14 crew returned safe
A lighter vessel carrying 1200 tonnes of cement clinker sank in the bay water at the outer anchorage of the maritime port Saturday morning.
All the 14 crew of the capsized clinker carrier Manik Mia-2 returned safe to the shore with the help of the lighter that hit it, the port officials said, adding they had advised other ships to operate cautiously through one part of the channel until position of the sunken ship was located.
Clinker laden Manik Mia-2 was hit by lighter ship Abdullah al Asif-1 near the Bravo (B) Anchorage of Chittagong Port at around 9.00 am. Earlier, the victim ship loaded cement clinker from a mother vessel at the outer anchorage. It left Sadarghat mooring with the clinker for Munshiganj factory of Akis Cement that had imported the goods.
Lighter Asif-1 was approaching the outer anchorage for loading goods off another mother vessel when the incident occurred in dense fog blanketing the channel.
Upon information of the incident, a team of high officials headed by deputy conservator of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Captain Nazmul Alam rushed the spot and gave the caution to other ships moving through the channel.
“Ship movement through the area became risky as the capsized vessel at the entrance of the outer anchorage is yet to be located,” he told the media this afternoon.
Source: Financial Express
