Coal-laden cargo vessel sinks in Bay

Bagerhat Correspondent: A coal-laden cargo vessel sank at Fairway Buoy area-12 in the Bay of Bengal, near the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarbans, around 10:30am on Friday.

However, all 12 people including the crews aboard on the vessel were rescued by a vessel named 'MV Bashundha-37 while passing through the area after the incident, confirmed Mongla Coast Guard West Zone sources.

According to Mongla Coast Guard media wing, it was a lighterage vessel unloading coal from the mother vessel Indonesian flag bearer 'MV Lady Marry' that reached outer anchorage of Mongla Port on December 24. The cargo vessel named MV Aichgati heading towards Noapara, Jessore, was carrying about 1010 tones of coal from the mother vessel.

On December 9, 2014, an oil-tanker carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil sank in a river in the Sundarbans after it was hit by a cargo vessel which affected plants and wildlife seriously.

Besides, on October 28, 2015 and March 19, 2016, two coal-carrying vessels sank in the Passur and the Shela rivers respectively.

risingbd/Bagerhat/Jan 13, 2017/Ali Akbar Tutul/A K Azad