26 crew members in trouble as BD vessel seized in Guinea

CHITTAGONG, Apr 30: Twenty-six crew members including the chief officer and chief engineer have been stranded on board a Bangladesh flag vessel for more than 110 days as the vessel MV Dahiatul Kalbi has been seized at the West African port Conakry in Guinea.

The ship was seized on a court order of the West African country Guinea in mid January last over a cargo dispute, it was reported.

Concerned sources said that the vessel left Chittagong Port in June 2014 and reached the port Conakry in January with a consignment of pulse for Guinea from an Indian port.

The vessel had delivered a portion of the pulse at Conakry but later the full delivery was not allowed as the concerned alleged that the pulse got damaged by water. So, the vessel was seized on a court order of that country.

Since then the vessel has been remaining stranded at the outer anchorage of the port. As it was not allowed to berth in the port the suffering of the crew mounted as their ration and water have exhausted and the generator to supply power went out of order.

It was alleged that the ship owner of Continental Traders was not much interested in securing the release of the ship. The captain, reportedly a close relative of the ship owner, urged the Director General of Shipping (DG Shipping) to arrange their sign-off and pay up the due wages.

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