Desk Report
Publish: 30 Apr 2022, 09:41 am
Fifteen Bangladeshi sailors have been stranded in Kolkata ||Photo: UNB
Fifteen Bangladeshi sailors have been stranded in Kolkata
for a month after their cargo ship sank at Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port.
They have pleaded with the government to “rescue” them
quickly, blaming the indifference of the port authority and the shipowner for
the delay in their homecoming.
The owner said the sailors cannot be brought back before all
formalities are done.
The ship, MV Marine Trust 01, tilted and sank partially at
the port on Mar 24. All 15 crew members were rescued and kept at a hostel in
Khidirpur. Its Bangladeshi owner Marine Trust Limited declared the ship
abandoned on Apr 23.
The ship’s Chief Engineer Fahim Faisal in a video posted to
Facebook on Wednesday said they are barred from leaving the hostel. The sailors
are kept under the supervision of the ship’s Indian agent Pennon Shipping
Limited.
An official from the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in
Kolkata met the sailors on Thursday, he said.
“We're passing our days in frustration. We want to return
home and spend the Eid with our families. The owners are trying, but we think
they're not trying properly.”
Saiful Islam, executive director of Marine Trust Limited,
refuted the allegation of indifference to taking back the sailors. “We're
communicating with them regularly through our local agent.”
The sailors travelled without visa under a coastal shipping
agreement between India and Bangladesh. Therefore, the Indian authorities took
away their passports. “It’s not that they have been detained.”
He hopes it will be possible to bring the sailors back
within 10 days.
Commodore AZM Jalal Uddin, director-general of the
Department of Shipping, sent a letter to the Indian shipping authorities on
Thursday, seeking help for the quick repatriation of the sailors.
He told the Indian authorities that Bangladesh formed a
three-member team to investigate the incident and they will visit the accident
site soon.
The Kolkata port authorities could not be reached for
comment.
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