43 containers fall off ship into Bay in rough weather

CHATTOGRAM, June 30: As many as 43 containers fell off a cargo ship in Hatiya channel of the Bay of Bengal during rough weather on Sunday morning.

The ship, KSL Gladiator, loaded with a total of 86 containers was going to Pangaon Inland Container Terminal in Dhaka from Chittagong Port when it was hit by rough weather in Lal Boya area, sources said.

As the ship was pitching and rolling heavily in the rough sea, the rope used to lash the containers in place got ripped, causing 43 containers to fall into the sea, they said.

However, the ship managed to ride out the rough weather.

Mohammad Selim, Deputy Director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Chattogram Zone, said, "The container ship encountered bad weather in the Hatiya Channel of Bay of Bengal near Bhashan Char area at around 6:30am on Sunday. At one stage of heavy rolling of the ship, some 43 containers fell into the sea."

"Later, a number of containers were seen drifting in the sea near Bhashan Char. We asked the owner of the ship to ensure security of the floating containers," he said.

Although the incident did not create any obstacles to the movement of ships through Hatiya Channel, ships have been advised to take extra caution while crossing the channel, he added.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard and the Bangladesh Navy have started working to recover the containers from the sea.

[email protected]