Oil Tanker MT Meherjan
Salvage stops for bad weather
BIWTA salvage ships Hamza and Rustam are seen anchored at Gobindapur-Kaliganj point of the Meghna as they could not start operation to rescue MT Meherjan yesterday.Photo: STAR
The rescue team formed to lift up sunken fuel carrier MT Meherjan could not start their scheduled work yesterday due to adverse weather. Start of the rescue operation, earlier scheduled from yesterday morning, has been postponed as the indicator marking spot of the capsized tanker has been washed away by strong current of the Meghna, said Imdadul Huq, director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA). Diving teams of navy and coastguard reached the spot about 2:00pm yesterday afternoon to locate the sunken vessel again, he said. BIWTA salvage ships MV Hamza and MV Rustam, their tugboats, and MT Jaal Kumari, an oil tanker belonging to the owner of sunken tanker MT Meherjan, are waiting for favourable weather, current and timing to start the salvage operation, said Rafikul Islam, assistant director BIWTA and commander of MV Hamza. "It will be difficult to lift up the tanker and its cargo weighing over 800 tonnes. We shall try to float the tanker up to the stage from where fuel could be piped out to the other oil tanker kept at the spot. We are giving top priority to safe unloading of fuel and checking oil spill for avoiding an environmental disaster," he said. However, success of the rescue operation greatly depends on the availability of favourable weather, sunlight, speed and nature of the river current at the spot, said the officials engaged in salvage operation. MT Meherjan carrying around seven lakh litres of fuel including 1,27,552 litres of patrol and 5,62,479 litres of diesel sank in the Meghna River Wednesday night after it collided with empty cargo vessel MV Fazlul Huq-3 at Gobindapur-Kaliganj Point in Mehendiganj upazila of Barisal.
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