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CPA did not send barge to rescue drowned ship

Wednesday, 20 April 2011


Our Correspondent
CHITTAGONG, April 19: Owner's representative of the North Korean flag vessel MV Hyang Ro Bong Captain Mohiuddin Abdul Kadir has alleged today that the ship has been drowned in the Bay waters of Chittagong Port. His allegations came during a press briefing at the sunken ship at the port's Bravo outer anchorage, some 4.5 nautical miles off the port. Captain Kadir said, "I made repeated requests to the CPA Control Room for sending a barge to rescue the ship but I did not get any positive response from them. Even the local agent of the ship did not come forward with any help," he said. He said that the owning company of the ship Ms Chin Hung Shipping wanted to lodge complaint against the CPA authority but he (Captain Kadir) requested the company not to go for any case because it would tarnish the image of the port in the global maritime arena. The CPA authority denied the allegation of the company's representative. "His claim is totally false and baseless. The port runs according to the CPA rules. They can bring written allegation if they have any," said CPA Secretary Syed Farhad Uddin. Meanwhile, salvage operation of the drowned vessel started today with launching of survey by divers and salvage operators of Prantik Mariners Ltd, a leading Bangladeshi salvage operation company, this afternoon. Managing Director of the company marine engineer Golam Sarwar took his engineers, diving and salvage team members and equipment and conducted survey for about two hours on the drowned vessel. The company reached an agreement with the representative of the owner of the ship in Bangladesh on April 18, 2011 on "no cure no payment" basis. The salvage team has been formally given five months' time for total salvage but the salvage company expects to complete the job in three months if the weather remains favourable. "Removing the cargo from the drowned vessel is the most challenging job. Once it is done we will be expecting to complete the salvage in three months," said engineer Golam Sarwar.