10 containers traced so far, six moved to shore by Navy

A total of 10 containers out of the 43 that fell off a cargo vessel into the Bay near Hatiya channel on Sunday were located in different parts of the country in last three days.

A search team of Bhasanchar contingent of Bangladesh Navy located nine containers floating on the Bay near the channel on Tuesday and with the help of locals managed to move six containers towards Bhasanchar coast and grounded those with much effort amidst rough sea, said Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, project director of Ashrayan-3 Project in Bhasanchar island.

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Five out of the six containers could be grounded to the south western coast of Bhasanchar while the other one at the north eastern side of the island, said a Navy officer who was also in the search operation.

Some cartons of cottons got out of the containers, he said.

Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, who led the search operation, said they could not move three others towards the shore due to strong current but tied them with buoys to keep them floating and demarcated those so that vessels moving in the area could avoid them.

Meanwhile, one container was grounded at Ramnewaj Fisherighat area on the bank of Meghna river at Monpura upazila on Tuesday night, said Officer-in-Charge Md Forkan Ali of Monpura Police Station.

Being informed by locals they went to the spot and found that locals tied the container with stone-dam of the river, said the OC adding that some cartons of goods like cotton were seen out of the container and most of the goods inside seemed soaked with water and damaged.

Captain SM Shah Alam, director of the ship’s owning firm Karim Shipping Lines Ltd, said they also heard about finding several other containers from different parts of the country.

Karim Shipping Lines, Genuine Enterprise, a salvage firm appointed by Interport Maritime Limited and the representative of the ship’s international P&I (protection and indemnity club) also continued search operation separately.

Mohammad Fakhrul Hasan Chowdhury, general manager (Claims) of Interport maritime Limited, said they sent their staff to Bhasanchar to check and verify the six containers grounded there.