Cargo ship carrying coal sinks near Sundarbans

A coal-laden cargo ship has sunk in No. 12 Fairway Buoy area of the Bay of Bengal near the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarbans on Friday morning.

The MV Aij Gati carrying 1,000 tonnes of coal sank some 10 kilometres away from Hiron Point in the Chandpai range of Sundarbans around 8:00am.

Md Sayed Ali, divisional forest officer of Sundarbans West Zone, said, “I have heard such news. However, details in this regard won’t be told.”

Local port stevedore agency MS Nuru and Sons proprietor HM Dulal said the MV Aij Gati sank after its bilge was breached being hit by the shallow bottom in the Fairway Buoy area as water began to pour in onto the deck.

The 12 crewmen and 4 security personnel have been rescued by another vessel sailing around the area at the time, he added.

On December 9, 2014, an oil-tanker carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil sank in Shella 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 Shella rivers respectively.